Gimme Shelter
by Darkpurplelighter
Summary: Ponyboy is taken away from Darry and Sodapop after getting into a fight with socs, and ends up being put in the most unlikely place. Chapter 17 rewritten, final chapter up.
1. A Night on the Town

XXXXXX

_It was a little past two in the morning and darkness had touched everything available to the naked eye._

_Ponyboy and Johnny walked through the park, Pony shivered as the chilled night air blew past him, but he continued walking, his breathing was visible in the cold night air. _

_Ponyboy came running after getting hit by Darry and woke Johnny up, telling him they were running away. _

_However, after Pony began to relax he started to think that running away wasn't such a good idea. They walked throught the park and back and Ponyboy was cooled off enough to head back home. _

_Pony decided he would go home and just not speak to Darry. It was his house as much as Darry's, and if he wanted to pretend he wasn't alive, that was just fine with him._

And that's exactly what he did.

Darry tried to apologize when he walked back in the house but Ponyboy simply walked right past him and to his room, not saying a word or even looking at him.

And it had now been going on for two weeks after their fight.

Ponyboy would wake up uncharacteristically on time and out the door before Darry even finished making breakfast. In the afternoon Pony would make sure dinner was cooked and already ate so he could be in his room when Darry came home.

And as far as schoolwork went, he would lay out any homework he had, but Pony made sure it was all correct so Darry didn't have to talk to him about.

Soda knew this whole thing was killing Darry and he hated the unspoken tension. He just wanted it to end.

Soda sat on the living room watching television, Ponyboy was lying on the couch, doing something for biology class when the front door opened.

"Hey Darry," Soda greeted as Ponyboy froze, "What are you doing home so early?"

Darry shrugged.

"Boss told me I could leave," Darry then noticed Pony on the couch, the first time he's really seen him in two weeks. Soda nodded and Darry slowly walked into the living room were Pony was sitting.

"How's it going?" Darry asked, but Ponyboy didn't answer.

Darry sighed.

"Alright, Pony. Don't you think the silent treatment has gone on long enough?"

"If you're gonna treat me like a baby, then I'm gonna act like one," Pony responded not even bothering to look up.

"Okay, I'm done," Darry said in frustration. "I've apologized…I'm going out," Darry walked out the front door. Ponyboy got up and headed for his room, closing the door behind him.

Later that night, Sodapop was getting ready to go out when he stuck his head in his room and saw Pony sitting at his desk, reading a book. Pony normally went to the movies with Johnny or Two-Bit on Friday night.

"Hey Pony, you going to the movies tonight?"

"No."

Soda sighed.

"Hey, here's an idea…why don't you come with me, Steve, and our girls?" Soda suggested.

Pony perked up a little.

"Well, that'd be fun…" suddenly his face fell. "But I don't think Steve would like it very much."

"Aw, kid, don't worry about it. You're my kid brother, I can invite you if I want." Soda rubbed the top of Ponyboy's head and grinned, then walked into the bathroom.

"Soda!" Steve yelled out as he entered the house. "You better be ready!"

"In the bathroom!" Soda called out.

Steve pushed the bathroom door open, revealing Soda standing at the sink shirtless, wearing just his jeans, washing off the remnants of shaving cream.

"Why aren't you ready?" Steve asked.

"Had to shave," Soda replied.

"You're never ready on time, you know I hate waiting."

"I'll be done in two seconds, mom." Soda quipped.

"Soda, can I borrow your jacket?" Pony asked, poking his head out his bedroom.

"What happened to yours?"

"Umm…" Pony stood there, trying to think of something. "I don't know," he finally answered.

Sodapop shook his head and smiled.

"Sure."

Pony disappeared back into the room.

"Where's he goin'?" Steve asked. "Does Darry know he's goin' out so late?"

"He's comin' with us," Soda announced.

"What?"

Steve took a step back, as though he'd just been slapped.

"He's hasn't been in a good mood lately, so I said he could come with us."

"Why?" Steve huffed angrily. "We're takin' the girls. We don't need a kid taggin' along. What's he gonna do, sit in the car and watch us all gettin' it on? It's not exactly a spectator sport."

"Steve…don't be like that."

"Forget it. You guys go, I'm goin' home." Steve left before Sodapop could protest.

"Steve!" Soda yelled again but Steve ignored him and continued out. Ponyboy frowned and stared at his feet as he heard it all. He slowly walked out of his room and into the hall.

"Sorry Soda...I didn't mean to cause-" Pony began but Soda cut him off.

"It's alright Pony, Steve hasn't been himself lately. He had a fight with his dad a few days ago."

"So what now?" Pony asked.

"What now? We're going out with our girls!" Soda grinned.

"Steve's girlfriend?"

"No, it's a blind date thing. Sandy set Steve up with a friend of hers, but since he left I guess he doesn't really want to meet her. Come on."

Ponyboy threw on his jacket and followed Soda out the front door. Getting into the car, Sodapop pulled out of the driveway and drove down to Sandy's house.

"So what about this girl?" Pony asked.

"What about her?"

"Do you know anything about her? Her name at least?"

Soda nodded.

"Her name's Nancy. She's about a year old then you. Don't get nervous okay?"

"I ain't nervous."

Soda pulled up at Sandy's house and he and Pony got out of the car. Knocking on the front door, Sandy answered and smiled when she saw Soda.

"Hey, baby!" Soda said in a high pitched voice and leaned forward and kissed her.

"Hold on just a second okay?" Sandy then looked over to see Ponyboy standing there.

"What's going on? I thought Steve was coming."

Soda shrugged.

"He took off. Ponyboy will be her date tonight."

Nancy came to the door and smiled at Soda.

She was a little shorter than Sandy, she had a nice smile and had long, thin light brown hair. Pony then noticed she had green eyes.

"Is this my date?" Nancy asked.

"Yep, Nancy this is Sodapop's younger brother, Ponyboy."

"That's your real name?" Nancy laughed, a really annoying laugh.

"Yes," Pony said, trying to remain polite although he felt like sprinting away from the door.

"We just need another minute," Sandy said and shut the front door.

Pony and Soda walked back to the car.

"I want to go home," Pony said.

Sodapop laughed.

"Come on, Pony. Give her a chance."

The four took their seats after they arrived at a diner. They ordered burgers with French fries and cokes. While they waited for their orders to come out, Soda and Sandy talked while Pony just remained quite.

While talking with Sandy, Soda would glance at Pony every now and then, noticing he looked bored.

Oh well, Soda was just glad he managed to drag Ponyboy out of the house.

Pony sighed and drummed his fingertips on the table top. He looked up to see Nancy staring at him, she gave him a bright smile, hoping to get some sort of reaction.

He stared at her, blinking.

Sandy had to go to the bathroom and got up, walking by a table occupied by two socs.

"Whoo, baby! Looking good!" A soc yelled as Sandy walked by.

"Damn, I'd like to be on top of _that_."

Sodapop glared at the two socs as they continued to laugh. Pony looked at Soda as he inched out of his seat slightly.

"Just ignore them Soda," Ponyboy said, speaking for the first time since they arrived.

"If those fuckers try anything, they're _dead_."

"Do you know what time it is?" Pony asked Nancy, talking to her for the first time.

"Uh, 11:00," Nancy said, looking at her watch.

"So, tell me about yourself," Pony said, trying to making small talk.

"Well, usually don't care much for boys, and I think good grades are important."

"Oh," was all he could think of to say.

"Do you get good grades?"

"Yes."

By this time Sandy was walking back toward the table when one of the soc's grabbed her ass as she walked by. They laughed and started making their way out of the diner.

Soda's eyes burned with hate as he immediately shot to his feet and began to follow them.

"Soda, don't!" Sandy pleaded but Soda ignored her and ran out after the two socs.

"Pony do something!" Sandy yelled.

Pony quickly got to his feet and ran out of the diner only to see Soda and the soc who had grabbed Sandy were rolling around on the ground, Soda was now on top of him and slugging him in the jaw. By this time everyone else who was in the diner had gathered at the windows or walked outside to see the fight.

The other soc had grabbed Soda and pulled him off his friend and began slamming his fist into his head when Ponyboy tackled him and they started fighting.

After another minute, the fuzz had pulled up. Soda punched the soc one last time before getting to his feet and running away as fast as he could, remembering what Darry said would happen if he or Ponyboy were ever arrested.

_"Damn! Pony!"_

He turned around and ran back to the diner to see Pony and the other soc still rolling around, punching each other.

"Shit, Pony come one!" Soda yelled, but it was too late.

One of the officers had separated them and had a hold of Pony and slapped the handcuffs on him. The soc he was fighting with was also arrested.

Soda watched in horror as his little brother was taken away in a police car.


	2. Taken Away

XXXXXX

Ponyboy sat in the back of the police car, his breath caught in his throat and his heart was beating a hundred miles per hour. He couldn't believe what had just happened, he tried not to think about it but he had to. Ponyboy remained in his numb state until they reached the cooler.

The officer got out and opened the door.

"Come on out kid," the officer said.

Pony obeyed and slowly came out of the car. He was scared out of his mind, he knew he was dead. Pony could only imagine how Darry would react when he found out.

Another cop came over and patted Pony down, searching for drugs and weapons.

"Move it," the officer said grabbing his arm and leading him in.

Out in the rooms there were a lot of other officers. There were kids lined up down the hall being read their rights and being handcuffed. Down towards the end of the hall he recognized the soc he fought with that was also arrested.

Ponyboy was then led into an empty room and into a chair.

"Sit here and stay." The officer instructed. Pony took a deep breath and closed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the wall.

Pony started thinking about all the horrible stories that Dally had told him about jail and only got more nervous, he didn't want to spend one minute in a jail cell. Sweat started coming down his forehead as he thought…

_"If only Sandy__ hadn't got up to go the bathroom. If only Soda hadn't lost his temper. If only those damn socs hadn't acted like assholes."_

"Hey!" said a voice.

Ponyboy jumped and looked up to see the cop that arrested him standing at the door.

"Get up son," he said. Ponyboy stood up and was led into another room. There was another officer at a desk, Pony sat down across from him and he started taking down information.

"What's your name?" The officer asked gruffly.

"Ponyboy Curtis," he said. The officer laughed and shook his head.

"Age?"

"Fourteen,"

As he took down more info, the officer who brought him here stuck his head in the door.

"Hey Joe, the kid's brother is here. Would you like to bring in now?"

"Let him in." said the officer. The other officer walked out of the room and returned a few minutes later. Ponyboy was scared to look at Darry.

"I'm Officer Mitchell. Please have a seat." Darry sat down next to Ponyboy, and Pony looked over a little to see Darry's eyes were full of anger. He could tell it was going to take everything to keep him from going off in here.

"Ponyboy Curtis has been charged with fighting in a public place with a deadly weapon,"

Pony's head instantly snapped up. Deadly weapon? There was no deadly weapon. But he knew better then to say anything and kept his mouth shut.

"I understand your his legal guardian am I correct?" asked Officer Mitchell.

"Yes sir," Darry said.

"Very well then. I personally decided not to draw any charges on Ponyboy. Since he has a clean record and we are way to full now to book him. But this is his only warning. So I'll let him off easy but next time it won't happen."

"Thank you sir. It won't happen again. I'll make sure of it." Darry said glaring at Pony. Now he was getting more nervous.

Officer Mitchell came over to Ponyboy and undid his handcuffs.

Ponyboy sighed in relief to have them off, as they were really starting to hurt. Darry led him out of the station with a strong grip on his shoulder.

The ride home went by in silence, Darry staring straight ahead at the road as the windshield wipers wiped away the rain that was now coming lightly down.

Ponyboy looked slightly over at him, noticing his still angry expression.

"This wasn't my fault," Pony finally spoke, ending the uncomfortable silence, frustration clear in his voice. "This soc grabbed Sandy-"

"I know Pony, Sodapop told me everything." Darry said.

"You know? Then why are so mad?" Pony asked.

"Why am I so mad? You got yourself arrested Pony!" Darry shouted.

Darry sighed.

"I just don't understand why Soda had to take you out so late, or why you couldn't have just said no. Just because you're mad at me."

"I have every right to mad at you," Pony muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, yeah. I hit you. It was two weeks ago! I've tried to apologize a hundred times, can we please move past it?"

"It isn't just that Darry, it's everything!" Ponyboy yelled, months of frustration poring out of him.

"I if I get a B, you want an A. If I get an A, you want to make sure they stay A's. If I'm in the house reading I should be out playing football, if I'm out playing football I should be inside reading." Pony yelled. "Nothing is ever good enough for you!"

Anger built up even more in Darry's eyes as he gritted his teeth and slammed on the breaks, turning to Ponyboy.

"You have no idea how much I have to put up with! I work all the time, I have to worry about money for bills, food, and about two younger brothers! I've suffered ever since mom and dad died!"

"So have I god damn it! They were my parents too you know!"

Ponyboy then got out of the truck and slammed the door closed.

"What are you doing!" Darry called out.

"I'm walking home," Pony growled.

Darry drove the truck slowly beside him.

"Come on Pony, get back in the truck. We're still about ten minutes from the house!"

"I don't care! I don't want to be anywhere near you!"

Darry stopped the truck and got out.

"What do you care? You hate me! You only keep me around because Soda won't let you put me in a boy's home!" Pony yelled.

"You don't actually believe that do you?" Darry asked, shocked by his outburst.

When he didn't respond, Darry quickly ran over and grabbed Ponyboy's arm and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Pony tried to pull away but Darry just hung onto him tighter.

"I don't hate you Pony, I would never put you in a boy's home," Darry said, tears coming to his eyes as Ponyboy began to sob into his chest.

Tears finally came down both his cheeks too, as they both realized just how much the deaths of their parents had affected them and how scared they were.

XXXXXX

Back at the house Sodapop bounced his knee has he tried concentrating on the show he was watching, and failing as every ten seconds he kept looking at the front door.

He insisted on going with Darry to pick up Ponyboy but he wanted to get him alone.

Soda jumped up when the door opened and a soaked Ponyboy and Darry came walking in.

"Hey, did everything go alright?" Soda asked.

"Yeah," Pony said, he then looked over at Darry and smiled "Everything's okay. Right Darry?" Darry smiled back at him and nodded.

Sodapop looked at Ponyboy and Darry in surprise.

"Wow, you two are actually being civil to each other."

"Yeah, we ain't gonna fight anymore. Are we little buddy?" Darry asked, messing up Ponyboy's wet hair.

"Nope,"

"Alright, everyone time for bed." Darry announced.

"You don't gotta tell me twice," Pony said. He walked to his room, took off his wet clothes and collapsed on the bed. After the long, stressful, and emotional night, Ponyboy was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

Ponyboy woke up the next day to the sound of two voices yelling.

"You can't take him away! Damn it, he and Sodapop are all I have left!"

He recognized Darry's voice. A female voice then responded.

"You're brother will be taken into my custody for the time being, until I can find him a foster home. However, you may go to a custody hearing of the matter, but for now, I must take him to a boy's home."

"Is that my only option?" Darry asked.

"Yes. You have to call this number to set up the hearing..."

"What foster home?" Pony asked, walking out in the living room to see Darry arguing with Mrs. Rhodes, the social worker. Sodapop sat on the chair, tears in his eyes.

Mrs. Rhodes turned to Ponyboy and smiled.

"Ponyboy, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ponyboy growled getting a bit more anger raised in his voice.

"By order of the state you have to. Plus, it won't look good on your brother getting custody of you if you don't. It'll only be temporary." She said getting a little frustrated.

Ponyboy spun around and walked back to his room, slamming the door closed. He looked at a picture on the desk of him and his family at one of Darry's football games. They all looked so happy together.

The door opened again and Sodapop came in.

"I'm sorry, Pony. They found out about you getting arrested. This is all my fault."

Pony shook his head.

"No it isn't. Don't blame yourself."

Soda sat down on the bed as Ponyboy grabbed a bag out of the closet and began putting his things into it.

"There's a good chance Darry can get you back…you only have to go away for…a little while," Soda said, holding back tears.

Pony nodded as he continued packing his things.

"Ponyboy, are you almost ready?" Mrs. Rhodes called.

Ponyboy turned back to Soda,

"Should I go with her? I don't wanna leave…"

"You don't have a choice," Soda said quietly. Pony sighed and stared at the floor.

"Maybe if I make a good impression then Darry can get me back," Pony said hopefully.

"I'm gonna miss you Pony..." Soda said getting to his feet. He pulled Pony into a tight hug.

"I know, I'm gonna miss you to," Ponyboy said. He took a deep breath and fought tears as Soda released him. He finished shoving things into a bag and slowly walked out of the room.

"Come on Pony," Mrs. Rhodes said, ushering him towards the car.

"Wait!" Darry called from the door.

He ran over and caught up with them.

"I'm gonna get you back okay? Even If I got to work day and night to do it, I'm gonna get you back, I promise."

Ponyboy smiled and they hugged.

"Keep in touch alright?" Darry said with one last hug for him.

Ponyboy finally were ushered into the car. He felt nothing but sadness sweep over him as he looked at Darry and Sodapop walking outside to join him, standing by the mailbox watching the car until it was out of sight.


	3. The Boy's Home

XXXXXX

On the ride to the boys home Ponyboy just stared out the window at the street passing by. It felt as if his life was passing by. Pony looked at Mrs. Rhodes in the driving seat and had to refrain from saying something derogatory.

The car was not exactly the perfect place to vent.

Plus, he didn't want to create some kind of controversy or anything, although it killed him because right now was a time where he wanted to voice his feelings.

He wished Johnny was right here beside him. He was the only one he could talk to without getting, "What are you on Ponyboy?"

He missed Sodapop already, Darry too. It figured, just when he and Darry finally worked things out, Pony had to leave.

All he could do now was just hope Darry was back at home, trying to set up a hearing for as soon as possible.

Finally, the car stopped in front of a large building.

"Here we are, Ponyboy. You're new temporary home," said Mrs. Rhodes.

Ponyboy opened the car door and stood up, finally getting a chance to stretch his legs. He looked at the building in front of him, wondering if he every saw it before and just never noticed. He felt sorry for kids in homes but never wanted to know what it felt like to become one.

Mrs. Rhodes waved him over,

"Come on!"

Pony sighed and grabbed his bag, following her inside.

Once they were inside Pony was led down a hall. It was real damp and drafty in the building. Ponyboy looked over to the walls to see stuff like, initials carved in the walls, and curse words written in black magic marker.

Mrs. Rhodes then stopped in front of a banged up door. She unlocked it and the door creaked as she opened it, leading him inside.

Inside the room were two boys and a couple of bunk beds surrounding them.

"Eric, Jake...this is Ponyboy Curtis. He will be staying in here until we can find him a foster home. If you try anything...you know what will happen." After she said that she turned around and closed the door.

Pony sighed and went to an empty bunk, throwing his bag down and sat down on the bed.

"Ponyboy Curtis..." The boy Eric said, "What the hell kind of goofy ass name is that?"

He was without doubt a Soc. But the other boy Jake reminded him a bit of Two-Bit. He had short light brown hair like him and was paying no attention to what was going on, just sat on his bed, reading an adult magazine.

Ponyboy was just going to ignore Eric but he continued.

"You're a greaser ain't you?" Eric asked. When Pony didn't respond Eric laughed slightly.

"Should'a know, you greasers are all the same with your torn up jeans and long greasy hair, you're all disgusting." He spat at him.

"Oh and I suppose you soc's are any better huh?" Pony snapped turning to look at him.

"Well let me tell you something, soc's are the spoiled rich kids who whine and cry until they get whatever they want. You all get ignored and spoiled by your parents who don't pay any attention to you, so you take it out on other people. Sure we ain't as rich as you, but money doesn't buy everything."

Eric looked shocked for a minute but then it turned into anger.

"And what would some greaser trash like you know about us? We're way too good for you. You have to come up with some stupid excuse to make yourself feel better."

"If you've got it made, then what are you doing here?" Pony asked. When Eric didn't respond, Pony layed down on the bed and stared out the window.

"You've got a smart mouth, greaser." Eric finally said. "That could get you hurt around here." Pony then heard the door open and close.

After a few hours went by, all the kids were gathered at a wreak room to eat dinner. Some kind of mystery meat with lumpy mashed potatoes. Pony could barley eat cause he was so home sick. He missed Soda's weird cooking.

When he got back the room, Pony sat down on the bed and rubbed his forehead.

"I want to go home..." Ponyboy muttered to himself.

"Shoot man, we all want to go home," a voice said, making Pony jump. He turned around and saw his other roommate, Jake was sitting on his bed.

"All of us wish we could go to our real homes and be with our real families...but hey, this is reality." Jake said sighing.

"Well, my brother is workin' on getting me back. So it's only a matter of time that I might be able to just get outta here and go home..." Ponyboy said. But then another thought stuck him. He was guaranteed to be moved to a foster home.

"How long does it generally take for someone to get placed in foster home?" Ponyboy asked.

"Eh, it varies...but we usually would like to say...maybe 'bout 3 days or so..." Jake said.

"Oh...so I ain't got lots of time here..." Ponyboy said.

"Hey man, don't get ahead. I don't know for sure...it could be sooner...or it could be later..." Jake said trying to keep Ponyboy from jumping to conclusions.

"Hey Ponyboy."

Pony sighed as he recognized Eric's voice. He turned around but was met by a switchblade pointed at him in Eric's hand.

Pony took a step back from Eric.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Pony asked shakily trying to find his voice.

Eric shrugged.

"I don't know yet...I may just teach you a lesson that I've been waiting to give to the perfect target."

Ponyboy felt even more anger build up in him, but didn't do want to do anything stupid since he didn't have a blade.

"All you greasers are trash. Are job is to get rid of you all," Eric said menacingly, moving closer to Pony.

Pony could only smile.

_"Boy, did you pick the wrong day."_

"Well...are you gonna start or what?" Ponyboy challenged.

Eric glared at him darkly and lunged at him. Ponyboy was now thankful for all his days at track, because he quickly dodged him and Eric nearly ran into the wall.

"None of those moves are gonna save you, you filthy greaser." Eric said coming back for more.

"Take your best shot." Ponyboy taunted at him. Eric leered at him and slashed the knife through the air. It missed Pony by inches.

"How the hell do you keep moving so fast?" Eric said panting.

Pony smiled and jumped back as Eric came at him again and came back with a punch to his face. The blade was thrown from Eric's hand and he fell to the ground.

"Come on, is that all you got?" Pony asked with a sneer. He looked down and picked up the blade, folded it and placed it in his pocket.

"Give that back," Eric growled.

"Come and get it," Pony dared.

Then, the door's lock clicked and the door opened.

"What is going on here?" Mrs. Rhodes asked.

"Nothing, Mrs. Rhodes. We were just messing around," Eric explained.

Mrs. Rhodes nodded silently.

"Very well, Ponyboy could you come along with me please?" She said gesturing out the door.

Pony looked at Jake who gave him a warm smile for standing up to Eric. Eric just scowled at him while he left.

"Let's go to my office," Mrs. Rhodes said. They turned right at the corner and walked all the way down to the last room. Pony followed her inside and she gestered to the chair in front of ther desk for Pony to have a seat.

"I bet you are wondering why I called you in here?" Mrs. Rhodes asked.

"Uh...well, yeah," Pony said glancing at the different things in the room.

"Well, it was because of Eric, he is a hand full..." Mrs. Rhodes sighed and was about to continue but was cut off by Pony.

"You kidding? Only a hand full?"

"Okay, I'll admit...he is troubled...and that is why I pulled you out of there, since you won't be staying there, I don't want to risk you getting hurt. So I'm going to be moving to a different hall. The room in now empty, we found the last boy in there a foster home. Is that alright with you?"

"That's fine," Pony said.

"Good, follow me please."

Mrs. Rhodes led Ponyboy down a different hallway and stopped in front of the door and opened it. This room was the same as the other one, except nobody was in.

"Good night," Mrs. Rhodes said, then turned in left.

Ponyboy threw himself down on one of the beds and stared up at the ceiling.

_"I wonder how Darry's doin' on the whole thing..."_ Ponyboy wondered laying back and falling asleep.

Just as he drifted off to sleep, at the Curtis house Darry was on the phone with a judge trying to get a court date for as soon as possible.

"So we're scheduling this thing for the first of next month? So, it's at 10:00 AM?" Darry asked taking down notes. "Okay...I'll see you then." Darry said hanging up.

Soda quickly came over to Darry's side.

"So, when is it?"

Two-Bit and Johnny who were sitting on the couch watching television, turned to listen to the news.

"Well, the hearing is for the first of next month," Darry answered.

"Darry, that's three and a half weeks from now," Soda said.

"I know, it's the best I could do. Listen, he said I bring some people to testify that I was a good guardian for Ponyboy. I was thinking that maybe you guys could go," Darry said, looking over at Two-Bit and Johnny.

"Us?"

"Yeah, I mean no one has been around us more than you guys."

"Yeah, no problem Darry, we'll do it," Two-Bit said. Sodapop looked surprised, he rarely ever saw Two-Bit this serious.

Johnny nodded,

"I'll go," he said quietly.

Two-Bit smirked.

"And I'll get Dally to come too."

"And Steve," Sodapop added.

"Steve? He's gonna speak about Pony and say nice thing about him? Oh, I don't want miss that," Two-Bit joked. Despite themselves, Darry and Soda both smiled.


	4. Adopted

XXXXXX

Ponyboy woke up late in the afternoon on Thursday, now his sixth day at the boy's home. Time seemed to stand still here, the hours going by like days.

Pony occupied himself by throwing the switchblade he took from Eric into a dart board that was hung on his door. He missed his brothers and the rest of the gang, even Steve.

He remembered what Dally told him about jail...the one's who watch the clock have the worst time.

He stared at the blade in his hand for a second before throwing back into the board. He thought about giving it back to Eric, but then remembered that Eric tried to stab him with it and decided not to.

Over the few days he was at the boy's home, Ponyboy and Jake seemed to become genuine friends. Soon after they finished eating dinner, Jake challenged Pony to a game of pool.

After Ponyboy accepted the challenge in his usual modest manner, he and Jake approached the pool table, Jake saying that he was going to kick Pony's ass.

After about twenty minutes, Ponyboy looked up at Jake and smirked.

"So, who's winning?"

"Shut up," Jake said morosely; Pony was beating him hands down.

Jake had been so full of himself about how good a pool player he was, he had stupidly agreed to Ponyboy's proposed wager -10 bucks to the winner.

"Oooookay," Pony said, smirking at Jake's glum face. He moved down to the far end of the table to decide which shot he was going to take next.

So, how's it been?" Jake asked.

"Hmmm."

Jake looked at Pony curiously.

"What does `hmmm' mean?"

"Nothing," Ponyboy replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Meanwhile, back at her office Mrs. Rhodes stood with two of her good friends, Daniel and Katharine showing them a picture of Ponyboy from her profile.

"Cute kid," Katharine said.

"His parents died in a car accident, a little over six months ago," Mrs. Rhodes explained.

"That's terrible."

"Yes, he's been through a lot."

"Tell me, what was he arrested for?" Daniel asked.

"Fighting," Mrs. Rhodes sighed.

She sat down in front of them.

"His older brother has a hearing in a couple of weeks, and I don't want Ponyboy to be miserable here. You both have done just a great job in helping the community, I was thinking that you might take him in until his brother can get custody of him."

Katharine smiled.

"I guess we have room for one more,"

Daniel shrugged.

"Uh, well. He seems okay, but how has all this affected him?"

"Pony's fine now. He just wants to get on with his life."

"What if his older brother doesn't get custody back?"

"Well, if he doesn't, if thing aren't working out with him, you can always bring him back and we can find him another home."

Jake walked around the pool table getting ready to take another shot when their game was interrupted when somebody called Ponyboy's name.

They turned around and saw Mrs. Rhodes by the door.

"Ponyboy please come to my office," Mrs. Rhodes said.

"I'll be right back," Pony sighed and walked with her back to her office and sat down across from her.

"Alright. I have some good news for you...I have found you a foster home," she said with a smile.

"Foster home?" Ponyboy said.

Mrs. Rhodes nodded.

"No…I ain't going. Nope," he said, crossing his arms.

"It's just temporary..." she said trying to explain to him.

"Maggie, is he ready to go?" Daniel and Katharine asked while walking in.

"Ponyboy, this is Daniel and Katharine Valance."

Valance?

Ponyboy turned his head two look at the couple standing by him and quickly got to his feet.

"You're sticking me in a soc's house?" Pony asked Mrs. Rhodes.

"What's a soc?" Katharine asked, confused. Pony then remembered that for the most part, wealthy people didn't know what a soc was.

"A rich family." He answered.

Daniel and Katharine looked at each other.

"Well…I guess you could say that," Daniel said.

"Pony, Mr. and Mrs. Valance are very good friends of mine, I wouldn't stick you with just anybody. They are being very generous by offering to take you in."

Ponyboy swallowed nervously and nodded.

"I'll go get packed," he said quietly.

Ponyboy went back to his room and started packing his bag. The door then opened and Jake walked in.

"So, I hear you're gettin' out of here,"

Ponyboy looked at his suitcase.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, good luck out there," Jake said, giving Pony a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

Pony picked up his bag and moved toward the door,

"Now you look out for yourself you hear?" Jake said opening the door for him.

"Yeah I hear." Ponyboy said while staring down at his own shoes.

Ponyboy walked outside with Mr. and Mrs. Valance and got in the backseat on their mustang.

"You hungry Ponyboy?" Daniel asked while pulling out of the parking lot. "We still have food from breakfast this morning."

"What did you eat while you lived with your brother?" Katharine asked.

"Well, usually I ate chocolate cake for breakfast."

"Chocolate cake?" Daniel laughed. "Well, I'm afraid we don't have any of that."

"It's okay, I'm not really hungry."

"You know, we have daughter not that older than you. You might like her," said Katharine.

"Really?" Pony asked, than sighed. He couldn't imagine how Cherry was going to react when she saw him in her house.

Ponyboy remained quite for the rest of the ride to the west side, soc territory while Daniel and Katharine made small talk.

He started thinking about that night, when he and Dally and Johnny went to the movies and met Cherry and Marcia. He then started daydreaming about walking with her and she really got him talking, which nobody other than Sodapop could do.

_"I thought maybe it was money that separated us," Pony said talking about the difference between greasers and socs._

_"No," Cherry said slowly when I said this. "It's not just money. Part of it is, but not all. You greasers have a different set of values. You're more emotional. We're sophisticated- cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us. You know, sometimes I'll catch myself talking to a girl-friend, and realize I don't mean half of what I'm saying. I don't really think a beer blast on the river bottom is super-cool, but I'll rave about one to a girl-friend just to be saying something."_

_Cherry smiled at Ponyboy._

_"I never told anyone that. I think you're the first person I've ever really gotten through to."_

"Pony?"

Ponyboy snapped out of his daydream state to see Mrs. Valance looking at him.

"Were here."

Ponyboy got out of the car and was led up to the house by the Valance's. The house was pretty big and had a lot of plants surrounding it. Mr. Valance opened the door and they all walked in.

Ponyboy looked around the house, there was a rather large chandelier hanging above his head and an enormous stair case. The floor had white carpeting, and some large vases were on the floor which Pony assumed were very expensive.

He walked over and looked at the pictures on the wall, and smiled when he saw Cherry in some on them.

"You have a fine house, sir." Pony said to Mr. Valance.

"Thank you."

Mrs. Valance then walked over to him.

"Now I know things must seem awkward, but I want you to make yourself at home here."

Ponyboy nodded.

"Your room is down the hallway second door to the left."

"Thank you," Pony said, taking his bag and walking up the stairs.

Katharine and Daniel walked in to the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"What'd you think?" Katharine asked her husband.

Daniel shrugged.

"I'll get use to him. Besides it's only for a couple of weeks. There's just one thing I'm worried about,"

"What's that?

"It's Sherry."

"Oh, I don' think she'll mind. He seems like a very sweat boy."

"No, no. It's well, he is a boy, and he's not that younger than her..."

"Oh, come on, that would never happen," Katharine said playfully slapping Daniel's knee. "Besides, Sherry has a boyfriend."

By this time, Ponyboy had reached his room and walked in.

It was a big room, it had a large bed and a television inside. The window was larger then his window at home...much larger.

"Things are rough all over."

Right.

Pony looked around his room and on a small table by his bed he noticed a telephone there.

He quickly ran over and picked it up, dialing his home phone number.

"Come on, come, pick up," Pony said to himself.

"Hello," said a voice on the other end.

"Soda!" Pony said.

"PONY!" Soda yelled and Ponyboy held the phone away from his ear.

"Soda…you're never gonna believe where I'm at."


	5. The Valance Family

XXXXXX

"You heard me right Soda, I'm in a freakin' soc's house!" Ponyboy said, still sitting on his bed, talking to his brother.

"What's it like?" Sodapop asked, as if his younger brother was in different country.

Pony looked around the room.

"It's uh, it's big." He shrugged. "Kinda cold, like a hotel."

"Well, at least you're not that far away from home," Soda responded. "Do you think you can walk home tonight for dinner?"

"I don't think so Soda."

Back down in the living room, Daniel and Katharine Valance were still sitting on the sofa talking when they heard a car pull up in the driveway.

"That must be Sherry," Katharine said getting to her feet and looking out the window. Sherry got out of her red Sting Ray and walked up to the house.

Daniel got up and walked with Katharine out in the hall as the front door opened and Sherry walked in.

"Hello Sherry," her mother greeted.

"Cherry," she corrected.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot."

"What are you two doing home so early?" Cherry asked.

"Well, I guess there's no reason to make a long winded speech about it," Mr. Valance said, looking over at his wife.

"You know that we've been thinking about taking in a foster child for a while," he began.

"And you did," Cherry finished for him and smiled.

"Yes."

"Well…?"

"Oh, well he's a very nice boy, he's around your age…"

"Why don't you meet him for yourself?" Mrs. Valance said, walking towards the staircase.

"Ponyboy!" Mrs. Valance called. "Can you come down here?"

Cherry's mouth dropped open.

"Ponyboy?" She said out loud, unable to stop herself.

"Yeah, kind of a weird name," her dad responded.

Back up at his room, Pony looked over his shoulder when he heard Mrs. Valance call his name.

"Sorry Soda, I have to go. I'll call you back later."

Ponyboy hung up the phone and got to his feet, walking out of his room and down the hall, walking down the staircase.

Mr. Valance patted Ponyboy on the shoulder and led him into the living room where Cherry was standing with her mother.

"Cherry, this is Ponyboy Curtis, Ponyboy this is our daughter."

The two of them didn't say a word or move a muscle. They just stared at each other.

"Is something wrong?" Mr. Valance asked.

Cherry shook her head.

"No," she said and outstretched her hand. "Hi, I'm Cherry Valance."

Ponyboy took her hand and smiled.

"Nice to meet you."

After Ponyboy was introduced to Cherry, he went back up to his room and was now laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling just thinking about how surreal this situation was.

Cherry Valance, a girl he could relate to really well…he thought he would never have another meaningful conversation with her again, now he was living with her in her house.

Ponyboy continued thinking until Mrs. Valance's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Cherry! Ponyboy! Dinner!" Came her voice calling up the stairs.

Cherry walked out of her room and past the open door to Pony's room.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked.

Ponyboy looked over at her.

"Uhh…I'm not really hungry."

"Well, you should eat."

"Does it matter that much if I eat or I don't?" He asked.

"It is you're first day here. They might get offended if you don't come down."

"Okay," he sighed and got up, following her down the stairs.

During dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Valance did all the talking, Ponyboy and Cherry sat across from each other, making eye contact several times. Ponyboy tried to be nice and pleasant whenever they would ask him a question.

"So did you two ever see each other in school?" Mrs. Valance asked.

"Uh…well…" Cherry began.

"I think we saw each other a couple of times in the hall, that's it," Pony finished for her.

"Right."

The two looked at each other again, Cherry gave him a little smile as if to say 'thank you' which Pony returned with a slight nod.

When they finished up, Pony offered to help clean the dishes since he usually was the one who did them back at home. As soon as he finished putting everything into the dishwasher he headed back upstairs. A somewhat loud bang coming from Cherry's room caught his attention. Her door was opened and her light was on.

_"Go on," he thought._

Ponyboy finally managed to get himself to walk to Cherry's door. He looked in to see Cherry's eyes were widened in disbelief as she proceeded to bang her hand against the desk she was sitting at in frustration.

Pony licked his lips nervously and lightly knocked on the door, getting her attention.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh, hi,"

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing," she responded, then looked down at the work sheet. "It's just that…I have a date with Bob and I still have to do this algebra homework."

"I can do for you," Ponyboy said, a little too quickly.

"You don't have to do that," Cherry laughed.

"No it's okay," Pony said while walking in. She handed him her worksheet and he looked it over.

"You hardly ate anything...are you feeling alright?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Ponyboy replied.

"So, are you comfortable with everything?"

"No, not really," Pony answered honestly.

"Well, that's alright. It's normal not to feel comfortable on the first day, but I think as the days go on, you'll get use to it," she said with a reassuring smile. He smiled back and they stared at each other for a second before Pony looked back down at the sheet.

"I've done these kind of equations before, I can do it if you want."

Cherry smiled.

"Okay, thank you." She picked up her black dress and entered the bathroom.

_She has her own bathroom. _

Pony shook his head and sat down at her desk and began working on her homework.

_She really is cute._

These thoughts floated around Pony's head aimlessly; thoughts of Cherry flashed through his mind, unable to shake the ones he shouldn't be having. He looked back down at the piece of paper, seeing only white. He focused his eyes to the question ahead; small blurry letters becoming visible; all mixed in with a few numbers. His head instantly began to ache.

The bathroom door opening caught his attention as Cherry came out in her dress and sat down in a chair across from him.

Pony's grey eyes lingered on her body as she leaned down to put on her high heels, a small gap appearing in her top.

_Whoa too far, Pony too far. _

"Pony?"

Ponyboy looked up to see Cherry smirking at him.

"Were you checking me out?"

"No."

"Yes you were."

"Oh yeah, you wear that dress cause you want people to look at your shoes,"

Cherry smiled at Ponyboy and playfully slapped his arm.

Outside, a car's horn went off. Cherry got up and turned back the certain to see that her boyfriend, Bob Sheldon had pulled up.

"I have to go, thank you again," she said.

"Don't mention it,"

She walked down the stairs and opened the front door to reveal Bob standing there.

"Hey beautiful," Bob greeted, giving Cherry a kiss.

"Hey yourself," Cherry smiled.

They walked together to the car, Bob opened the door for her and Cherry got in.

When Bob turned around he looked up to see a boy in Cherry's window. He looked like a greaser, and he was giving him a dirty look. He slowly turned around and walked to the other side of his mustang.

"Hey, who is that kid in your room?" Bob asked while getting into the car.

"Oh, that's a foster kid that my parents took in," Cherry explained.

Bob stared ahead.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

He shrugged and started the car.

"I don't know…he just look's so familiar."


	6. New Routine

XXXXXX

As soon as Ponyboy finished up doing Cherry's algebra homework for her he placed the worksheet back down on her desk, shut out the light and walked back to his room. He opened up his bag and changed out of his clothes and crawled into bed.

Everything about being here…it was just one painful reminder after another of what he didn't have. He began thinking bitterly about the reason he offered to do Cherry's homework for her in the first place, so she could go out on a date. He could never take a girl out to some fancy restaurant.

As much as he wanted to believe Cherry when she told him that soc's had problems too he couldn't anymore. Just one day at being in this house on the west side confirmed his belief that the soc's had it made.

Pony started thinking about that night, after walking with Cherry and Marcia he and Johnny went to the vacant lot, Johnny must have noticed Pony's mood. He remembered Johnny's words.

_"It was because we're greasers, we could have hurt her reputation or something. Don't worry about it Pony."_

It wasn't fair for the socs to have everything. They were as good as they were; it wasn't their fault they were greasers. Ponyboy couldn't just take it or leave it, like Two-Bit, or ignore it and love life anyway, like Sodapop, or harden himself beyond caring, like Dally, or actually enjoy it, like Tim Shepard. He felt the tension growing inside of him and Pony knew something had to happen or he would explode.

Ponyboy tossed and turned in his sheets trying to get comfortable, his eyes than snapped open as he remembered something.

Pony looked over next to him and realized Sodapop wasn't coming in. He then thought about his nightmares; the ones he got shortly after his parents died, the ones he could never remember.

God that was the last thing he needed right now. To wake up screaming in the middle of the night.

The more he thought about it, the more he worried. What if he did it tonight, and then tomorrow night, and then again the next night?

Mr. and Mrs. Valance would no doubt start to wonder just what kid of kid they decided to take in. They finally would not be able to put up with it anymore and take him back to the boy's home. Then at the hearing, the judge would wonder why and think of him as a problem child and take him away from Darry permanently.

He would go from foster home to foster home, never getting settled anywhere.

XXXXXX

"Ponyboy."

Ponyboy slowly opened his eyes when he heard somebody softly say his name. He grunted and rolled over, barley getting any sleep last night as his over active imagination kept him up half the night.

He rubbed his eyes and saw it was now morning and Mrs. Valance was standing by the bed.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's time to go to school," she smiled.

"School?

"Yes, it's Friday remember?"

Pony stared up at her.

"What's the matter honey?" Mrs. Valance asked.

"Nothing, I'm getting up," he said.

He forgot today was a school day, since for the past few days at the boy's home he didn't go to school.

It wasn't just that. Mrs. Valance waking him up…it made him think of his own mother.

After getting dressed Ponyboy walked down the stairs and past the kitchen, seeing Mr. Valance sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading a news paper. He slowly walked in.

"Hey Ponyboy," Daniel greeted. "Want some breakfast?"

Pony shook his head.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

Mrs. Valance then walked in to the kitchen.

"I…I was wondering if I could stay with my brothers tonight."

"Uh, well…" Katharine looked at down at Daniel and he nodded.

"Sure, Cherry is going to be staying over at a friends house tonight anyway."

"We can have the house to ourselves," Daniel said, looking up at his wife and smiling.

"Just be back tomorrow morning," Katharine said.

"I will, thank you," Pony smiled then hurried out of the house.

When Ponyboy arrived at school he went straight to his locker, unable to open it after two tries. He shook his head, trying to remember the combination when two arms suddenly wrapped around his waist, lifting him off the ground.

"Ponyboy Curtis!" A familiar voice shouted.

"Two-Bit! Let me down!" Pony laughed, as Two-Bit swung him around.

As soon as his feet could touch the ground again and pulled Two-Bit's arms away and tackled him and they began rolling around the ground.

After a few seconds some of the other students in the hall were now looking at them. Pony wondered if some of them through they were fighting.

Two-Bit tried to get out from underneath Ponyboy, who pushed him back down and tried to get him in a headlock but Two-Bit twisted Ponyboy's arm behind his back and flipped him onto his stomach.

Meanwhile, Cherry walked down the hall with her best friend Marcia Smith, and Laurie Forslund, another friend of hers.

"Hey Cherry, I heard that your parents took in a foster kid," Marcia said.

"What is it, on the news?" she responded.

"No, Randy told me this morning,"

"Bob must have told him," Cherry sighed.

"Does Bob remember it's the same greaser that walked us home after the movies a few weeks ago?" Marcia asked. "The one he tried to find afterwards?"

"No, he doesn't remember," Cherry said, thankfully. "I think he was too drunk to remember."

"Your parents took in a greaser?" Laurie spoke up.

"Yes. It was a nice thing to do."

"Yeah, I know I just…there nothing but trouble. Of all people they take a greaser in?"

"Why not? It's not like they took in a mass murderer," Cherry said starting to get a little defensive.

The three of them suddenly stopped when they saw two boys rolling around the floor, a small crowd gathered around them.

"See what I mean?" Laurie said, rolling her eyes and turning to walk the other way.

After the bell rang, Ponyboy separated himself from Two-Bit and entered his English class.

"Nice to see you again Mr. Curtis," Mr. Syme said as Ponyboy walked into the classroom and took his seat. Even though he would never say anything, Pony knew he was Mr. Syme's favorite student.

"You've missed a little bit of work, but with that big brain of yours, I don't think you'll have a problem catching up."

It was a long day and by the time the final bell rang in the last class, Ponyboy sighed with relief and walked out the front doors of the main entrance. He decided he would wait here until Two-Bit drove by. After he waited for a few minutes he recognized Cherry's sting ray coming down the street. She pulled up by the curb and he walked forward to her open window.

"Hey Pony," she greeted.

"Hey. So, what about the math homework?" Pony asked.

"Oh, everything was correct. I…I owe you one." Cherry then looked to the side, seeing that nobody was around.

"Why don't you get in, I'll give you a ride home."

Pony looked surprised at Cherry's offer. She noticed his expression.

"I said I owe you one didn't I?"

"Well actually I was gonna spend the night with my brothers."

"That's okay, I'll take you there, I just need to go someplace first. Want to come with me?"

"Uh...sure."

Ponyboy walked around to the other side of the car and got in.

"This is a real tuff car," Pony said, looking at the white leather.

"Thanks," Cherry said, beginning to drive.

"So, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

After driving for about five minutes, Cherry pulled into the parking lot of a department store. They walked in and Cherry led him to the men's section of their clothes.

She handed Ponyboy a madras jacket, a light yellow shirt, a wine-colored sweater, and a nice pair of jeans.

"Who is this for?" Pony asked.

"It's for you silly," Cherry smiled.

Ponyboy looked down at the clothes in his hands.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Now go try this stuff on," she said, gently pushing him towards a changing room. She knew if Pony was going to continue to live with them he needed to be dressed nicer, for his own sake.


	7. The Clothes Make The Man

XXXXXX

Ponyboy stood on the street corner he had Cherry drop him off at and looked down at himself. He was wearing the Madras jacket, light yellow shirt underneath and jeans Cherry bought for him. A bag in his hand held the wine-colored sweater. His hair didn't have grease in it, he looked like…a soc.

Ponyboy walked over to his house and a bright smile came to his face when he saw Sodapop standing out on the porch smoking a cigarette.

"Soda!" Pony yelled and started running over.

Soda turned his head and as soon as he saw Ponyboy, the cigarette fell out of his mouth.

"Ponyboy?"

He was about to launch himself at Soda, but Sodapop stopped him and looked Pony over.

"What in the world are you wearing?"

"Well…I told you I'm living with socs now."

"Forget that, get in here before somebody sees you!" Soda said, grabbing Pony's wrist and pulling him into the house.

Sodapop shut the door after they came into the house and turned to look at Ponyboy again.

"You don't think I look good in this?" Pony asked looking down at himself.

"No," Soda said.

Pony shook his head and playfully pushed Soda.

"So, they've got you dressing like a soc now. I guess it's only a matter of time before you're driving a mustang and jumping greasers."

"It's nothing Soda," Pony assured.

"Do you still have clothes here?" Soda asked.

"Yeah, but I'll wait to change, I want Darry to see me first."

"I just go get him."

"Darry's here now?"

Sodapop nodded and walked down the hall, knocking on Darry's door.

"Hey, Darry! Someone's here to see you!"

Inside his room, Darry put down a weight he was lifting and opened the door walking out into the living room and his eyes widened when he saw Ponyboy.

"Hey Darry," Pony grinned, outstretching his arms. "Did you miss me?"

"What are you doing here?"

Ponyboy put his arms down.

"I guess that means no."

A rare grin then came to Darry's face.

"Yeah, I've missed you," Darry said and walked over to Pony, pulling him into a hug. "But you're suppose to stay at the foster home."

"They're letting me stay over here tonight."

"I'll start cooking dinner," Soda said and walked into the kitchen.

"So, how's everything here?" Pony asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Nothing new is happening here, Two-Bit and Dally were running around the house a few days ago, fighting over the last piece of cake," Darry said, rolling his eyes. He sat down on the chair across from Pony. He started really looking at Pony's new clothes.

"Well, you look nice," Darry grinned.

Pony smiled.

"I'm living over in the west side now."

"Yeah, Mrs. Rhodes told me. Are you comfortable in a soc house?"

"Not really."

"I wouldn't imagine you would be...I'm sorry...I'm working as hard as I can."

"I know."

"Anyways, the hearing is set for next month. I know it seems like a long time from now but that was the only day that was open. Think you can hang on until then?"

"I guess so," Pony sighed.

Their conversation was interrupted when the heard the crashing of silverware.

"He hasn't been sleeping that good since you've been gone," Darry said looking back at the kitchen.

"Me neither."

"Come on, let's go help him out."

Ponyboy and Darry walked into the kitchen and helped Sodapop cook dinner. As soon as they were done, Pony quickly ate everything on his plate, he missed Soda's cooking.

When they were finished eating dinner, the rest of the gang came by, Pony made sure he change into his normal clothes before they got here. Everyone looked happy to see him, including Steve who gave Ponyboy a playful slap on the back.

"So what are we going to do tonight?" Steve asked.

"Let's watch Mickey Mouse!" Two-Bit shouted, turning on the television. "Mickey Mouse!" He shouted again. Dally snatched the remote from his hand and turned the television off.

"Two-Bit...do me a favor and shut up."

"Let's play football." Pony suggested.

"It's dark out,"

"We've never played at night before, come on!"

Sodapop grabbed the football and they all rushed out of the door and ran until they reached the field.

Darry and Dally were the team captains and started picking people.

"I choose...Pony." Dally said.

"Soda," said Darry.

"Johnny."

"Steve."

Two-Bit was the last person.

"Oh, come on!" Two-Bit yelled.

Darry looked over to Dally and grinned.

"Your turn."

Dally muttered something and picked Two-Bit

"The teams are always uneven," Steve complained.

"Maybe Two-Bit should be a cheerleader," Dally suggested.

"Cheerleader?"

"Too bad we don't have a dress in his size," Pony grinned.

Dally looked over his shoulder.

"Fine, whatever. Get over here jackass," Dally said to Two-Bit and the teams got ready.

"HIKE!"

"Ack!" Dally grabbed at it, bounced it off his hand and, after some interesting feats of accidental juggling, caught the ball. "Two-Bit, go long!"

"What?" Two-Bit, forty yards down, asked.

"GO LONG!" Came the replay.

"WHAT?"

"GO LONG!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! YOU'RE TOO FAR AWAY!" Two-Bit called back.

Dally took in a deep breath, opened his mouth and was flattened by Darry. The ball went flying.

Johnny looked around and dashed over to where it was going to land and caught it. Johnny then threw the ball to Ponyboy who rocketed into the end zone.

The game kept going back and forth, after one team would score a point the other would score a point. It was now tied and they all agreed that the next play would be the last.

Darry had the ball and when Dally tried to tackle him, he spun and Dally went right past him and crashed to the ground. Darry passed the ball to Steve who ran pass Two-Bit and to the end zone when Ponyboy tackled his legs from behind.

The football flu from his hands and Sodapop grabbed it and started running to the end zone, only to be intersected by Johnny.

Ponyboy quickly got to his feet and Johnny passed the football to him and he began running in the opposite direction as Darry chased after him. Pony smirked and ran faster as he heard approaching footsteps.

Finally, Darry was able to tackle Ponyboy but it was too late as they passed the end zone. All the others then ran down to them.

"That's right, that's how it's done," Dally bragged.

"Blah blah blah," Sodapop retorted.

"Wow, I think this is the first time Darry's team has lost," Johnny said.

Steve still looked mad that Pony was able to tackle him.

"Fine. You win, but watch out Pony, paybacks are a bitch," Steve growled and stalked past Dally, ignoring the smug look on Dally's face.

"All right, let's go," Darry said.


	8. A Weekend Alone

XXXXXX

Squeezing his eyes closed tightly, Ponyboy moved his hand over his face to block out the annoying sun. Stupid sun. Why does it bother us so early in the morning?

Pony sighed and opened his eyes, looking over at his bedmate and grinned when he realized Sodapop was still sleeping, his arm slinging across Pony's body.

He gently removed his arm, careful not to wake Soda up and started getting dressed in his "soc" clothes, this time putting on the sweater. Pony walked out of his room and into the living room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Dally sitting on the couch, watching television.

Ponyboy turned around and quietly started to make his way back to his room when he heard the sound of footsteps coming out of the kitchen then someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him into the living room. Pony turned his head and saw that it was Two-Bit.

"Two-Bit, let me go!" He yelled as they both fell to the ground.

Pony quickly pulled out of his grasp and scrambled to his feet but it was too late. Both Two-Bit and Dally were now staring at him, looking over his clothes.

After a few seconds, Two-Bit finally busted out laughing.

"Nice sweater," he managed to say between laughs.

"Pony…what in the hell are you wearing?" Dally asked.

Ponyboy looked down at himself and sighed.

"Cherry bought it for me. I have to wear this stuff while I'm living in soc territory. Maybe then I won't get jumped."

He then noticed a slight gleam that entered Dally's eyes when he said Cherry's name.

"You're living with Cherry?"

"Yeah."

By this time Two-Bit had stopped laughing and let out a whistle.

"Cherry Valance, I remember her. She's a real looker. Isn't she the broad that told you off Dally?"

"Shut up," Dally responded almost… _embarrassingly?_

"That's right, about a week ago we saw her at the Dingo and you offered to buy her a coke. She told you to go to hell!" Two-Bit said and then started laughing again.

"Yeah, whatever. Next time I want a broad, I'll get one of my own kind."

Two-Bit stood up and started looking Pony over again.

"Look at his pants," Two-Bit grinned. Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe Cherry doesn't like hoods like you. But I think Pony has a chance."

Two-Bit walked closer.

"You're gonna go for it aren't you?" He said and grabbed Ponyboy again and started messing up his hair.

Get off of me!" Pony pushed Two-Bit away. "What is your problem? You're like some retarded Labrador!"

"Wooo, them's fighting words!" Two-Bit then suddenly ducked and grabbed Pony around the legs, causing him to fall back onto the couch. Ponyboy pulled him down with him, twisting over so he ended up sitting on Two-Bit.

Dally, obviously annoyed, picked a newspaper up and threw it at Pony's head

"Cut it out, you're disturbing other people in the house. Namely me."

"Yeah, I can't breathe. Maybe it's time you went a diet or something?" Two-Bit mumbled.

Pony jokingly gasped.

"Oh, so now I'm fat, huh!" Ponyboy grabbed Two-Bit's head and pressed it further into the cushion, enjoying the sound of his struggle.

Finally, Dally had enough and grabbed Pony round the waist and hoisted him in the air. Ponyboy turned himself in Dally's grasp and wrapped his arms around his neck and held on tight.

Dally cussed and lost his balance, and the two of them fell to the floor. Pony then started getting a little scared, he had never really roughhoused with Dally before.

The two rolled around on the floor, knocking over a lamp, Dally looked over and Ponyboy took immediate advantage of Dally's surprise, settling on his chest with a leg on either side of him, locking his arms at his thighs.

Dally bucked hard, and Pony held onto the very grains of the carpet to keep the advantage.

Of course, there was no keeping Dally down for long. He was stronger than Ponyboy was, and officially in the 'fight' range of the fight or flight impulse. He latched onto Pony's body, spinning him around until he came to rest on the floor with his hands over his head.

Dally held Ponyboy to the floor, and a few loose strands of his blonde hair fell across his face as he breathed heavily. "Have you lost your mind?" he demanded harshly.

Ponyboy just shook his head, eyes wide.

"It's funny; I was just wondering the same thing." He then flashed a innocent smile up at Dally.

Dally's breath escaped him in a disdainful snort. Ponyboy winced as Dally's hands tightened, forcing his arms to bend at an awkward angle. He leaned forward, pressing him into the floor.

"Holler uncle," he growled.

"Oh you two stop, it's too early," said a voice. Dally looked over to see Darry had come out of his room.

Ponyboy took advantage of his distraction to free his arms, using the momentum to spin them so that he was pinning Dally to the floor, holding his wrists down on either side of his head.

Darry walked over and pulled Ponyboy up, then took a step back and dropped him on the floor, hard.

"Ow!"

Ponyboy got up and rubbed his side, following Darry into the kitchen.

"I'll cook something if you want to stick around." Darry began.

"Actually, I need to get back. I promised Mr. and Mrs. Valance I'd be back in the morning."

"Okay, I'll give you a ride. I don't want you walking around in the neighborhood dressed like that."

Pony went back to his room and grabbed his bag of clothes, said goodbye to Dally and Two-Bit and got into the truck with Darry. After driving for a little over five minutes, Darry arrived at the Valance house.

Darry pulled the truck up next to the driveway.

"Look's nice," he said, observing the house.

"Yeah, thanks for the ride." Ponyboy said. He reluctantly opened the door and walked out and up to the house. He turned around and watched Darry leave, not going into the house until Darry's truck was out of sight.

Meanwhile upstairs, Daniel and Katharine were talking to Cherry.

"Cherry, sweetheart, are you sure you two will be fine?" Daniel asked his daughter for the millionth time.

"Yes dad, don't worry, we won't burn the house down. Besides I'm sixteen!"

"Okay, but you know I'm worried about you…"

"I know, but you will be back by…?"

"Probably Monday morning," Daniel answered.

"Come on, Daniel I don't want to hit traffic," said Katharine.

Daniel smiled and kissed his 'baby's' cheek.

He and Katharine stepped out into the hall, picking up a suitcase, walking down the stairs. They both saw Ponyboy standing by the doorway.

"Oh, Pony," said Katharine.

Ponyboy looked down at the suitcases as they came down the stairs.

"Is this about me?" He asked.

Katharine laughed.

"No, actually we got some bad news last night," Daniel began. "Katharine's mom is in the hospital, it's nothing serious, but we need to go to Texas to see her. We're going to be gone all weekend."

"But I'm afraid you're going to have to stay here," Katharine said, as if she read Pony's mind. "I know you want to be with your brothers, but we're suppose to be looking out for you now. We shouldn't even be leaving, but I trust you and Cherry will be fine for two days."

Ponyboy nodded.

"We'll be fine, I won't leave," he promised.

"Okay, see you Monday morning," Daniel said. He and Katharine then walked out the door, a few seconds later Ponyboy heard the sound of a car starting and pulling out of the driveway.

He then felt with stomach growl and made his way to the kitchen. Ponyboy grabbed a pan, opened the refrigerator getting out everything needed to make pancakes. As he approached the stove, a thought came to mind.

Ponyboy went through the cupboard's looking for something he hoped the Valance's had, then grinned when he came across it.

Food coloring.

He remembered his reaction when Sodapop made them for the first time. He wondered how Cherry would react when she saw them. He got everything he needed and after about five minutes of cooking, a voice got Ponyboy's attention.

"What's that smell?"

Cherry came into the kitchen, nose scrunched, trying to decide if she needed to call the fire department or not.

"Good morning," Ponyboy called out from by the stove.

"Is something burning?" Cherry continued to question.

"I'm making pancakes," Pony informed her. "Want some?"

"Pancakes?" Cherry repeated. "You cook?"

"Yeah, sit down," he grinned.

Cherry sat down at the table as Ponyboy picked up the spatula, scooping up the pancakes and putting them on plates.

Ponyboy placed the plate down in front of her and Cherry's eyes widened.

Green pancakes.

"What the-" she exclaimed.

Ponyboy tried not to laugh, unfortunately, that only made it funnier. Cherry looked up at Ponyboy as he placed a hand over his mouth and turned his head away.

"I'm not eating this."

"It's just food coloring, it doesn't really affect the taste," Pony laughed, grabbing the syrup and sat down across from her.

Cherry started cutting the pancake and slowly took a bite. Ponyboy raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

"Well, it's not completely awful, but...eh, it'll take some getting used to."

Pony poked Cherry with his fork and shook his head.

"What am I ever going to do with you?"


	9. Getting to Know You

XXXXXX

After they both got done eating, Cherry left the kitchen and Ponyboy stood by the sink cleaning. They talked a little while they ate, mostly about school but he couldn't help but wish that it lasted a little longer.

"Hey Ponyboy." The sound of Cherry's voice as she re-entered the kitchen made Pony's heart leap with a painful joy. He quickly straightened his shoulders and pasted a smile on his face as he stood by the sink, washing the dishes.

"Hi," he said brightly as he could, turning his head to look at her. Cherry looked at him, or rather the dishes he was washing and her face fell a little.

"I'm sorry I left you alone with the dishes, I should help you with the mess," she said while walking over to the sink.

"I'm used to cleaning up the mess," Ponyboy responded.

He had just turned his back to her and resumed cleaning when suddenly Cherry was beside him at the sink and picked up a plate. Pony's heart leapt again, even if the gesture was only friendly.

"Thanks," he said.

Cherry picked up the sink sprayer and started washing a dish, since they were so close together some water started getting on Ponyboy's shirt.

"Hey now! You're getting me all wet!" He quickly dipped his fingers in the water and flicked them, sending a small stream of water in Cherry's direction.

She let out a squeal of protest and hit Ponyboy on the head with the sponge, leaving a fluff of soap perched atop his reddish brown hair.

Pony proceeded to scoop up a handful of water this time and throw it in her direction but it only managed to soak the back of her shirt as she turned away. Cherry squealed again and tried to poke the sponge into Pony's face but he sidestepped and grabbed the sink sprayer. He held it out before him, finger resting on the trigger, as Cherry froze in her tracks.

"You wouldn't!"

Ponyboy tilted his head to the side. "I wouldn't? You so sure about that?"

"Okay, I put down my weapon, you put down yours." She lowered the sponge towards the counter but didn't put it down. "Deal?"

He contemplated this for a second, his right eyebrow quirking up.

"No."

He pressed down on the handle but before the water streamed out, Cherry chucked her sponge, hitting Ponyboy right in the nose and giving her the time she needed to duck. The water streamed over her head and splattered on the floor behind her.

She didn't know where to go next to avoid Pony so Cherry scooted to the right and attempted to get behind him. However, he anticipated her move and finally managed to hit her full on with the sprayer.

Cherry sputtered and threw her herself at Ponyboy's legs, trying to knock him over. She would have succeeded if she hadn't slipped in the water on the floor and fell on her side. Ponyboy backed up a step and stopped spraying.

"Are you okay?" Pony asked, trying not to laugh.

Cherry glared up at him through her drenched hair that was hanging limply in her face. She was soaked through and Ponyboy barely had a drop on him. He held his hand out and Cherry took it and he helped Cherry to her feet.

For a moment, Ponyboy thought she was going to hit him. But Cherry merely grabbed bubbles from the sink and started throwing them at him.

Soon Ponyboy and Cherry were able to stop fooling around and got the dishes washed, Pony walked upstairs to his room and changed, pulling on a black shirt and blue jeans. He walked back out into the hall and noticed a book shelf next to Mr. and Mrs. Valance's room.

He started going through it and a smile came to his face when he noticed a copy of "Gone with the Wind."

Ponyboy took the book back to his room, kicked the door closed and threw himself down on the bed and started reading.

For the next few hours, Pony was lost in the book and by the time he finished part four and looked over at the clock and noticed it was one in the afternoon. He got to his feet and stretched. 'I wonder what Cherry is doing?' he thought.

XXXXXX

Outside, the sun shone brightly making the afternoon air warm and nearly unbearable were it not for a light breeze. In the shade of two large trees was a wide, mesh hammock.

An open book lying face down on her stomach, Cherry dozed peacefully on the hammock.

She wore a pair of short denim shorts and a tight, white tank-top in an effort to beat the heat. Her sandals were on the ground under the hammock. Something suddenly began to tickle her face, a light feathery object. She swatted at it, but it persisted and she though she heard a stifled snicker.

Cherry opened her eyes and saw Ponyboy holding a blade of grass to her face.

"Hey, stop that!"

He gave her a bright smile.

"Couldn't resist. You made such a tempting target." Ponyboy said.

"You're too kind." she stated sarcastically.

"Very cozy setup you have here."

"Mmm, it serves it's purpose."

"Got extra room there?"

"Sure, get on."

Pony did so, his head at her feet. Then, after a moment of calming silence and rocking, "So, what have you been doing all day?" Cherry asked.

"Nothing much." Ponyboy put his hands behind his head. "I noticed that you had "Gone with the Wind" on the bookshelf, so I've been reading ever since breakfast."

"Sounds very productive."

"What about you? I'll just bet you've been lying here all morning reading that book," he responded, nodding towards the book.

"Guilty as charged," she laughed.

"What are you reading anyway? Pony asked.

She held up the book and he grimaced in disgust at the title.

"The Carpetbaggers? Should've known you couldn't keep your nose out one of those books for very long."

Cherry slapped the sole of her foot to his chest and he grabbed her ankle in surprise. "You take that back," she warned, a slight grin working the corners of her lips.

"Oh, and if I don't?" Ponyboy smiled and he tugged at her ankle.

She suddenly sat up slightly, understanding his intent.

"Don't you dare!"

"No?" His tone was innocent, but his smile was full of mischief.

"No!" she ordered, her smile becoming apparent.

"No?" he repeated, lightly tracing his finger on her sole. She tried to pull her foot away, but he held on and continued to run his finger up and down her foot.

She struggled wildly, both from his grip and from uncontrolled laughter, as Ponyboy tickled the sole of Cherry's foot. Suddenly the hammock tipped, dumping them both onto the ground.

They laughed hysterically at the whole situation. "Not...not exactly what I had in mind!" Pony struggled to say.

Cherry then ripped grass out from the ground and lunged at him, throwing it in his face.

"Moron!" She shouted.

"Look who's talking," Pony laughed, falling on his back to absorb her lunge. "I had to do your homework the other night!"

Cherry sat on Ponyboy's waist and dropped the grass on his face.

"You offered to do it."

"Yeah, I did," he replied, spitting out grass from his mouth.

Cherry laughed and got up, whipping another handful of grass at his face.

"You have a thing with throwing grass at me, don't you." Ponyboy stated as he sat up, picking the green blades of grass out of his hair.

"Green and red go so well together." She responded, referring to his hair.

Ponyboy smiled up at her before reaching up, starting to tickle her sides. Cherry shrieked in response before grabbing his wrists, holding them down next to his head.

He couldn't help but smirk a little. Usually it was a member of the gang or one of his brothers that had him in this position. It was nice that it was a girl on top of him for a change.

The two just stared at each other with unblinking eyes for a moment before Cherry finally realized their positions and spoke.

"We should go back in."

She got up off him and Ponyboy and Cherry dusted off any grass that was on them and walked back into the house, going into the living room. Cherry turned on the television and sat down on the sofa, Ponyboy sat down on the sofa on the other side of the room.

After a while it was starting to get dark as it was approaching dinner time. Ponyboy's stomach started grumbling as he focused on a tree outside, whose branches swayed in the wind.

He looked over at Cherry who was still paying attention to whatever program they were watching and really began noticing how fit she was. She was a cheerleader after all. A thought suddenly came to mind.

"Cherry, when's the last time you've had a cheeseburger?" Ponyboy asked.

She looked up, seeming a little surprised by his question and began thinking.

"Well…I think it's been a little over a year since had a burger…but I had some fries a few months ago."

"Well come on, we can go to the drive-thru and get some," Pony said sitting up, his mouth watering at the mere thought of it.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's loaded with fat and calories and all sorts of unhealthy stuff you don't need in your system!" Cherry said.

"What are you worried about?" He asked.

She shrugged. "You. Not taking care of yourself."

Pony's face twisted into a glare. "I'm not a child."

"I saw you that night after dinner, sneaking out of the house to just sit down outside, smoking those cigarettes!

"Fine, what are we gonna do about dinner? I'm getting hungrier by the minute."

"I'll make filet of fish and garden vegetables. Since you made breakfast this morning."

Ponyboy couldn't help but scowl at the picture of the fish and vegetables.

"No way, not that!"

Suddenly Ponyboy and Cherry fell silent. They weren't saying anything, just looking at each other with unreadable expressions. He sighed. A staring competition? Now?

A cheeseburger, with a side of golden fries was what he wanted. Yes, it was two very fattening foods and yes, he would probably die of a heart attack by the time he hit thirty, but it was _good_.

_What is the point of living life if you have so many restrictions holding you back?_

"Well, how do we decide?" Cherry asked, ending the silence.

An idea suddenly came to Ponyboy's head.

"How about we flip a coin?"

"Flip a coin?"

"Yeah, tails we get burgers, heads we eat crappy health food."

"Fine."

Cherry got up, pulled a coin out of her pocket and approached Ponyboy with her hand outstretched. Pony looked down at her hand.

"Okay…you want to flip a penny. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Cherry's brows furrowed.

"What?"

Ponyboy grinned and got to his feet, pulling a quarter out of his pants pocket.

"You flip with a quarter."

Ponyboy tossed the coin up in the air, catching with his right hand and slapped it down on the back of his left. He removed his hand and grinned when he saw it was tails.

"Yes! Tails never fails," he smiled.

"Ugh, fine!" Cherry said, grabbing her keys. "Let's go."

"Oh no, you might gain half a pound," Pony said in a mock fearful tone as he followed her to the front door. Cherry then turned around and looked at him.

"Are you going like that?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" Pony responded, wondering if she wanted him to put on the clothes she bought for him.

"Well, nothing." Cherry shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter, since we're just going through the drive-thru."


	10. Soda's Advise

XXXXXX

Arriving back home after getting their food, Ponyboy opened the front door and Cherry followed him in, shutting the door carelessly behind her and they walking into the living room.

Sitting down in front of the television, Ponyboy turned it on and noticed that it was some kind of horror movie playing. It intrigued him as he shut out the lights and sat down next to Cherry on the sofa, already munching on the cheeseburger she got. Ponyboy looked over at her and grinned.

"Good isn't it?" He asked while reaching into the bag for his.

Cherry shot him a playful glare before exhaling deeply.

"Uh, I've eaten so much junk food today."

"Don't blame me, you agreed to flip a coin."

"Yeah, but you made me flip a quarter. I had a good feeling about that penny."

Pony placed his feet on the coffee table as they remained quite as they watched the movie together. There was total silence between the two as they watched the main character enter a dark room

Halfway through Cherry was tense as a board. Pony hadn't noticed, being completely enraptured by the movie. Eerie music was slowly building and Ponyboy smiled as he could just sense something bad was going to happen, but it was taking ages for the said bad event to actually occur.

Cherry leaned forward as the music stopped completely for several seconds before a creature appeared behind a woman. She jumped and subconsciously clung to Ponyboy's arm.

"Look at all that blood."

Ponyboy looked down and couldn't help but grin at Cherry's clinging that ended up lasting for several minutes before she finally let his arm go.

"Wonder if this will be one of the movies where evil wins?" Pony asked out loud

"Evil never wins," Cherry muttered, clutching the pillow in her lap and warily watching the movie.

"It does in horror movies," he responded.

Cherry was thoroughly relieved when the the movie reached it's end. The creature was shot and killed as she predictied it had a happy ending.

The program was now over and Ponyboy turned off the television before lookng over at the clock, seeing that it was eight at night.

"I thought it was pretty good." He stated.

"Yeah." Cherry agreed. "Although I don't usually watch those kind of movies."

"Why? Too scared?"

Cherry playfully narrowed her eyes but didn't respond. Pony looked at her, knowing that she didn't like fights, so it made sense for her not to like horror movies either.

A few minutes later, the two made sure the house was locked up and all the lights were turned off before heading up the stairs.

"Goodnight," Cherry bid to Pony as she approached her door.

"Goodnight," Pony smiled then walked into his room. He changed, turned off the lights, and slipped into bed.

For the first time since being here, he went to sleep without feeling awkward about here or worry that Sodapop wasn't coming in. After a few minutes, Ponyboy peacefully dozed off.

The next morning Ponyboy woke wrapped up in the sheets of the bed. He rolled over and looked at the clock, seeing it was going on 11:30.

He got out of bed and pulled on his jeans and black shirt he wore yesterday. It was Sunday and the last day Mr. and Mrs. Valance would be in Texas. After getting dressed he walked out of his room looking in to Cherry's room, he saw that she was on the phone. He waited and after a few seconds she hung up, looking over at her doorway she saw Ponyboy standing there.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hi, what are you up to today?"

"Well, I was gonna go the movies. I was wondering if you'd like to go."

"Oh, I'd love to go but I can't. I already made plans with Bob, we're going to this party in an hour. Maybe some other time?"

Ponyboy nodded.

"Okay," he said, disappointed.

"I had a lot of fun the other day Pony," Cherry said while getting up and moving towards the bathroom.

"So did I."

"You're a good foster brother."

After Cherry said that she went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, leaving Ponyboy stunned, frozen by the door.

_Foster brother?_

* * *

Ponyboy walked down the street kicking a few rocks. He knew he was still on the west side and knew how he was dressed but he didn't care if couple of socs went by.

His fist clenched and unclenched, and his jaw loosened. Ponyboy knew what was bothering him. He was in love. He was in love with Cherry.

But he was a just a friend to her. He should have considered himself lucky just to be that. They lived in different worlds, and that's how it would always be.

After a few minutes he arrived at his destination, the DX gas station.

Ponyboy opened the door and walked in, going over to the coke machine and filling a styrofoam cup with Pepsi. He took a deep breath and took in the smell of the gas station's odd saw-dust/oil aroma. He walked over to the front counter and rang the bell.

"Hold on just a sec," he heard Steve holler from the back.

Pony laughed when he heard a sudden crash and laughed harder when he listened to the string of cuss words that followed.

"Hey, what are you doin' here?" Steve said as he emerging from the back, a wide smile on his face.

"How's it going, Steve?" Pony asked, eyeing the smudge of grease on his cheek and the odd half up and half down style of his hair.

Steve yawned and grabbed a towel from the counter.

"Oh, it's goin," he answered, trying to wipe the smudge off his face,

"I need to see Soda," Pony sighed.

Steve nodded.

"Yo, Soda!" He hollered.

"What?" Soda screamed back, footsteps echoing in the back room.

"You've got a visitor!"

"Really?" Soda laughed. "Who is it…" he stopped when he entered the room and saw Ponyboy. His face lit up immediately and flashed his movie-star smile.

"Pony!" He said excitedly and hopped over the counter, tackling Pony in a bear hug. "It's been so long!"

"It's been a day, you moron!" Ponyboy laughed.

"Seems like a lot longer to me," he responded, messing up Pony's hair. "I'm glad you came here to see me."

"I just thought I'd come see you two in action," Ponyboy said, playfully punching Soda in the arm.

Steve snorted.

"Well there hasn't been much action around here today," he whined, sounding bored.

"No customers?"

"Only a few," he said, "but that's okay, because we've been out back working on the cars. Hey…want to help us?"

"Uh…that's okay," Pony answered remembering Steve didn't like hanging around them.

"No, come on Pony," Steve said. Ponyboy looked at him shocked. "Maybe with you around Soda will stop being so miserable."

Soda leaped over the counter and tried to hit Steve but he ran back into the room.

"Okay, okay," Pony said and hopped over the counter to the back.

Soda took Ponyboy out a back door that lead to the back of the gas station where the garage was. Soda then crouched down and scooted under the barley opened garage door. He followed suit, and Pony's eyes widened at the scene sprawled out in front of him. There were two cars inside.

Both were raggedy looking, there was tons of grease smeared all over the place; on the car, on the floor, and on the Soda and Steve's faces. Pony observed tools that were lying in random places around the area and also the empty soda cans that covered a majority of the floor.

The three of them began working on the cars until the bell rang from the front and Steve got up to see who it was. Soda got on the floor and began working on the car's tires. He looked up and saw Ponyboy watching him, he noticed the gloomy look on Pony's face.

"You okay Pony?"

"Not really," Ponyboy answered honestly.

"What is it?"

"It's…uh, this girl I like."

A smile came to Sodapop's face as he quickly got to his feet.

"Go on."

"There's just one little problem."

"What's that?"

"She's a soc."

Soda waved his hand.

"That's nothing."

"Are you kidding?"

"That means your only gonna have to put more work into getting her."

"But I'm a greaser…you know how it is."

"Pony…girls worry about a lot of things, there height, there weight. If make a girl feel good about herself, it really doesn't matter what's wrong with you."

"How did you get Sandy to like you?" Pony asked.

"Well, there are some old tricks you can use to get her attention."

"What's that?"

"For starters, probably the oldest trick in the book. Opening the door for her."

"That's it?"

"That's it." he said matter-of-factly. "Girls love it."

"Open the door." Pony repeated, "Got it."

"Another one is ice-cream. It reminds them of simpler times. Take her somewhere special, like an ice-cream stand in the park. It's nice and thoughtful, a simple gesture, but scores high on points."

Ponyboy nodded.

"Oh yeah, take her somewhere cold intentionally. Not freezing cold, but as soon as she mentions that she's cold, offer her your jacket. That's another easy way to score. And, perhaps my personal favorite. Spill something on her."

Ponyboy sputtered and choked down the Pepsi he had just taken a drink of. He gave Sodapop a shocked look.

"What?" he exclaimed.

Soda grinned at his brother's reaction.

"This one is actually a bit complicated and you need good judgment when using it, espically since this girl is a soc. If her clothes look too expensive, then don't. But if the clothes look casual, go for it. Nothing that stains though, water is good. Then you're free to fuss over her."

Ponyboy smiled and shook his head.

"You're crazy Soda."

"And that," Sodapop said, "is the end of your lesson. Now go get yourself this girl."

Meanwhile, Cherry and Marcia were sitting next to each other in the big backyard on Bob's friend David who was throwing a party. The thick smell of weed hung lazily in the air, tons of empty beer bottles littlered the ground. Most of the girls who had came were in the swimming pool. The guys hung out by the grill.

While Cherry wasn't exactly having the time of her life, she was still happy to be away from Ponyboy. It was still a little weird for her for him to be around.

Just then, her friend Laurie walked by her.

"Laurie! Have you seen Bob?" She asked while getting to her feet.

"Yeah, he's inside just finishing up with a beer drinking contest."

Cherry sighed and shook her head. She looked at the back door as some of the boys were coming outside, beer staining their shirts. She cringed as Bob came stumbling towards her.

"Okay, Bob can we please leave now?"

"Baby, what's the rush?"

Bob pulled her into a rough kiss. Cherry pushed away from him and gently touched her lips.

"That's it, I'm out of here!" She snapped and turned away walking back to her car.


	11. Ice Cream and a Kiss

XXXXXX

Ponyboy got back to the Valance house after hanging out with Sodapop and Steve all afternoon at the DX. He decided to make dinner for himself and Cherry but it was going on 5:30 and she still wasn't home yet and he was starting to get worried.

He sat at the kitchen table until he saw the headlights of a car illuminated in the curtains. Pony got up and walked into the entrance of the kitchen as the front door opened up and Cherry walked in.

"Hey," he greeted. "I figured I'd cook the fish and vegetables you wanted the other day."

"Oh, that's sweet, but I'm not really hungry."

Ponyboy walked closer to her and saw a faint bruise on the bottom of her lip.

"What happened to you? Where did you get that?" Pony asked, examining the bruise.

"It's nothing. Bob got a little rough at the party when he kissed me. He was drunk," she said with tears forming in her eyes.

"Cherry, he can't do that to you! Has he hurt you before?"

"No, I mean he's never hit me or anything. It just happened this time. It's okay, really. I'm fine," Cherry blinked her tears away.

"If he hurts you, please do something about it."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me!"

Cherry spun around and walked over to the mirror hung up by the staircase. After a minute of silence, she spoke.

"Bob can be so sweet sometimes, so friendly. But when he gets drunk..." she shook her head. "Why do people sell liquor to boys? Why? I know there's a law against it, but kids get it anyway."

Ponyboy walked over and carefully put her hand on her shoulder. Cherry then spun around and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him. Pony's eyes widened in surprise before he finally returned it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she responded letting go of him.

Cherry smiled at him.

"You're really easy to talk to."

He smiled back at her.

"Since you don't want to eat dinner, want to get some ice cream?" Ponyboy asked, remembering Sodapop's advise.

"Ice cream?"

Ponyboy nodded.

"You're just determined to fatten me up aren't you?"

"Oh come on. It'll make you feel better."

"Okay. The place is not to far from here we can just walk."

He was about to follow her to the front door when she suddenly stopped and turned back to him.

"You might want to change, since…well, you know."

"Yeah."

Pony ran upstairs and quickly changed, throwing on his nicer pants and madras jacket before racing back down and walking out of the house with her.

It was a short walk to the ice cream stand as they made small talk along the way.

The vendor looked up and smiled as they came near, obviously assuming they were simply a pair of friends out enjoying the good weather.

"Hello," she said. "What can I get you?"

Ponyboy smiled weakly. "Cherry," he said, "Why don't you go first?"

Cherry looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Vanilla, please," she said.

"Boring," announced Pony.

"Lots of people like vanilla, I like vanilla. Vanilla is a perfectly good flavor."

Ponyboy ordered the Fudge Chunk Bits Toffee Nut Mocha Swirl. When they were handed their plastic dishes of ice cream they went over to a bench and sat down, eating in silence. After a few minutes they finished up and headed back to the house.

As soon as they re-entered the house, Ponyboy turned and closed the front door, locking it. He followed Cherry up the stairs and even continued to her room. Cherry looked surprised when she turned around and saw him there.

"Do you have a calendar?" He asked.

"Yeah," she pointed to it on the wall, next to her bed.

Ponyboy walked over and looked it over.

"Just two more weeks. Then on the first of next month is the hearing."

"You think your brother will get back custody of you?" Cherry asked.

"I hope so."

"You really don't like it here do you?"

"I don't _hate_ it here…it's just weird. I don't know."

Cherry nodded.

"I understand. I guess it would be weird for me too."

Ponyboy then really began looking around her room and noticed a shelf over her bed that had tons of stuffed animals on it.

Cherry rubbed her stomach, starting to really wonder if what she eaten over the past few days had caused her to gain any weight. Ponyboy looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"Tell me, what do you exactly eat since you became a cheerleader?"

"I do eat," she snapped back playfully.

"Yeah, I just drink water and put dirt on the tip of my tongue," Ponyboy mocked, his voice an octave higher than normal.

She picked her red pillow and flung it at Ponyboy. It hit him squarely in the face.

Soon they were both crouched on top of her huge bed, pillows in hand and attacking each other and laughing at the same time. The pillows were being beaten up, allowing white soft feathers to fall out and surround them on the bed.

"Take that!" Ponyboy shouted.

"You're so dead!"

They were both hitting each other at the same time. If one fell over the other would jump on them and attack.

Cherry picked her pillow up again, which Ponyboy knocked out of her hands. Ponyboy then pushed Cherry back with his pillow.

"Argh!" She yelled as she fell off the bed.

"Oops!"

Cherry lay on the floor, white feathers stuck in her hair. Ponyboy was laughing hard, feathers slightly visible in his hair.

"You think that's funny do you?"

"From up here Cherry, it's very funny!" Ponyboy laughed as he inched forward to see her on the floor.

"Oh really?" She grabbed his arm and pulled him and quite a few feathers down, by her.

Instead of falling on the floor, Ponyboy landed on Cherry.

"Oomph!"

His head by her shoulder, he lifted up slightly, staring into her eyes. Cherry was lying down, her legs slightly apart, with Pony on top, his legs in between hers and his hands on each side of Cherry.

They were still staring. Absorbed in each others eyes. A soft feather dropped from Pony's head and landed on Cherry's cheek. He didn't know what made him do that but he moved his head towards her. Still not breaking eye contact he blew it away.

Cherry felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek, and closed her eyes, breathing in his scent.

Ponyboy touched her cheek. Moving in closer and closer…

He could feel her heart beating in tune with his. And she could feel his heart against her own. Her eyes were closed but she could feel him approaching nearer. His warm breath tickling her face.

Only an inch from her face, Pony lifted a finger and pushed back a lock of hair that was out of place on her face. As his finger made contact with her face, Cherry let out a gasp, which he heard. She opened her eyes. He smiled.

Ponyboy stared at her lips for longer. It was as if they were calling him. To touch them. Preferably with his own lips.

So that's what he did. He kissed her. Touching his lips with her warm one. As soon as they touched the battle inside his head dissolved. Only Cherry was on his mind.

Cherry had never felt this way before. She could feel the electricity running through her body, from her toes to her head.

Ponyboy kissed her softly. Instantly she kissed him back, grinding her lips against his. She didn't know why but her heart and mind was telling her that it was the right thing to do. Ponyboy deepened the kiss and his hands were on her waist and Cherry's hands were tugging on his hair.

Suddenly Cherry came to her senses and pulled away leaving Ponyboy in shock.

"I'm sorry…but…but I can't do this." She tried to get up, indicating to Pony to get off of her. He quickly stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. Following Pony's lead, Cherry got up and tamed her hair with shaky fingers.

"Sorry," She repeated and made her way to the bathroom.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

She looked down and Pony swallowed nervously.

"Cherry-"

"I'll be right back."

And with that she turned and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She leaned at the door breathing quickly.

Cherry splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection in the small mirror. Her hair was a mess. She stroked it to get it flat, and breathed slowly. Cherry breathed slowly.

Outside Ponyboy kicked the foot of the bed. He sat on the end of the bed, his back to the bathroom door. He put his head in his hands, cursing quietly to himself.

"_You're so stupid! I didn't mean to!" _Ponyboy tried to convince himself.

He was so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed Cherry emerging form the bathroom.

"Hey," she whispered. She had calmed down by now.

Ponyboy lifted his head from his hands and turned round.

"Hey."

They just stared. Ponyboy was the first to break the awkward silence. "Look Cherry, I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, It was just a mistake..." he babbled on. Cherry walked over and placed a finger on his lips.

After a moment, Cherry leaned forward and kissed Ponyboy. He closed his eyes as the two of them continued as they fell backwards on the bed.


	12. Babysitters

XXXXXX

_Beep…Beep…Beep._

The next morning a very sleepy, very disoriented Cherry rolled over in bed and shut off her alarm.

"Good morning sleepyhead," said a voice. Cherry opened her eyes a little to see Ponyboy standing by her bed. She smiled up at him.

"It's time to get up, we have school today," he said cheerfully. He looked way to happy for 7:00 in the morning.

"Don't remind me," Cherry responded and dragged herself out of bed, yawning heartily and walked into her bathroom.

10 minutes later, Cherry walked out of her room with a smile on her face. She was wearing a black dress with white flats. Her red hair was perfect as usual, curls flowing naturally. She walked past Ponyboy's room and saw him standing by his window. Cherry walked in and slowly came up behind him.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I…I like sunrises," Pony shrugged, looking a little embarrassed.

"Me too actually. My dad and I use to get up early every morning to watch the sunrise when I was little."

They watched the sky in silence for a few moments as finally the sunlight crept through the opening of the blinds, warming the faces of the redheaded teens.

"What was last night exactly?" Cherry suddenly blurted, before realizing what she was saying. She quickly covered her mouth. Ponyboy looked over at her and slightly smiled. Cherry took her hand off her mouth. "Is there anything going on between us?"

"Do you want there to be?" Pony asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

"I don't know," she responded, sitting on his bed. "Ponyboy, I…"

"Cherry," Pony cut her off.

"Yes?"

He sat down across from her and they both stared into each others eyes.

It wasn't until Pony's lips were against hers that Cherry realized he had leaned forward into a firm kiss. At first, Cherry froze, completely at a loss of what to do, than rational thought kicked in.

Pony, taking Cherry's lack of reaction the wrong way went to pull back. When Cherry noticed him pulling away she quickly wrapped her arms around Ponyboy's neck, deepening the kiss. It wasn't until oxygen became an issue did the two pull back from each other, Cherry's arms still around Ponyboy's neck.

Just then the two of them heard the front door open downstairs and two voices coming from it.

"Your parents are home," Pony said while standing up. Cherry got to her feet as well. "What do we do about-"

"Just act natural around them. They won't notice anything," Cherry responded. They kissed one last time before Ponyboy walked into the hall and closed the bathroom door while Cherry walked down the stairs to greet her parents.

"The house looks okay, I'm actually impressed," Mr. Valance said while hugging his daughter.

"I told you, you didn't have anything to worry about," Cherry responded, then hugged her mom. "So, how's grandma doing?"

"She's fine, she got out of the hospital yesterday," Mrs. Valance answered. "Where's Ponyboy?"

"He's in the shower."

"I have a little bit of a favor to ask you," Mr. Valance said.

After Ponyboy got finished getting ready he walked downstairs and joined everyone else in the kitchen. Mrs. Valance made eggs and toast for everybody.

"So was everything okay here?"

"Everything was fine,"

Pony nodded.

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun."

Cherry then looked up at the clock and noticed it was time for them to go.

"Well goodbye, have a nice day a school guys," Mr. Valance said.

"We will dad," Cherry said and she and Ponyboy walked out of the kitchen and approached the front door.

"Hey Ponyboy."

"Yeah?"

"My parents want me to baby sit my cousin's little children tonight, wanna come?"

"How old are they?"

"Robin is eight and Adam is five."

"Uh, I guess. They're just kids. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Just meet me back here after school."

After Cherry got in to her car and drove away, Ponyboy made the short walk to school. When he arrived he smiled when he saw Johnny and ran over to him, throwing his arm around his neck.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" He grinned.

"What are you so happy about?" Johnny asked.

Pony stopped and looked around.

"If I let you know, promise you won't tell anyone."

"Who would I tell?"

"Okay, solid point."

After Cherry parked her car in the student's parking lot she walked into school and went to her locker and opened it up, taking out her history book. She closed her locker and was about to turn when she noticed Bob leaning against the lockers, grinning at her.

"Hey Cherry," he smiled.

"Hey."

She looked down and noticed a rose in his hand.

"I'm sorry about happened the other day. It'll never happen again, I promise," Bob said while handing her the rose. Cherry took it and looked down at the floor, taking a deep breath.

"What's wrong?"

"You know Bob, if yesterday was the first time you've acted like that, I probably would have just forgotten about it by now. But it's not."

She handed him back the rose.

"I think maybe it's time we started seeing other people."

While that, she spun around and began walking to class.

"Cherry wait!" Bob yelled and ran after her. "What do you mean? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm sorry Bob. But I told you once before, it's either me or the booze. And it looks like you've made your decision."

Cherry once again turned around and walked away, she had no doubt at all over the decision she was making. Bob watched her in shock until she was finally out of sight.

XXXXXX

After school, Ponyboy met up with Cherry back at the house and got into her car. The ride was a short one as they arrived at Cherry's older cousin's house.

Pony was introduced to the kids and stayed with Adam in the house, watching television with him while Cherry played ball with Robin outside.

"Catch it Cherry!" Robin squealed, followed by a large amount of giggles erupting from the little girl as she threw the ball at Cherry.

"Got it!" Cherry did a dramatic lunge for the ball and was rewarded with more giggles.

"Your turn!" She threw a small underhand which Robin tried to catch but missed. The ball landed a few feet away in the grass.

"Silly me," Robin said and did a cute run to get the ball.

"That's okay, you'll catch it next time," Cherry said. "Okay…toss it here, as hard as you can."

After Mickey Mouse was over, Adam went upstairs to his room and Robin soon followed, leaving Ponyboy and Cherry to themselves.

The two of them were currently in the living room, laying on their stomach's coloring in one of Adam's coloring books.

"I haven't done this since I was little," Cherry laughed.

"Me neither."

The colored in silence for the next few minutes. Cherry then toed off her shoes then slowly inched her right foot over towards Ponyboy's left leg slowly, so that if Pony mentioned it she could pass it off as an accident. Taking the final bold move, she nudged his foot with her own.

Ponyboy looked up from the coloring book, startled out of his reverie. He looked down and saw Cherry's foot on his own. Taking this as an invention to play foosie, he rubbed his socked foot against Cherry's bare sole, tickling it faintly.

"Can I have the orange?" Cherry suddenly asked.

"No, I'm using it," Pony said.

Cherry looked down at the red crayon in Ponyboy's hand.

"No you're not."

"I am in a minute."

"Pony, I'm coloring a bunny that's eating a carrot."

Ponyboy handed her the brown.

"Give the bunny a cigar."

Cherry pulled the crayon out of Ponyboy's hand and threw it over her head. Pony scowled at her for a second before getting up and retrieving it. When he walked back he looked at Cherry's legs and smiled, getting an idea.

Ponyboy grabbed Cherry's legs, restraining them and started tickling her feet.

"Wait, Pony, don't!" Cherry laughed, unable to reason with him as he continued.

She started to laugh harder, as Pony started to tickle her waist. Cherry kicked and laughed, before taking the offensive and tickled Ponyboy's stomach.

Pretty soon they were both a tumbling mess of laughter, rolling around the floor before they finally came to a stop with Ponyboy sitting on top of Cherry, holding her shoulders down. He then took on his hands and placed it against her cheek.

She smiled up at him and Pony was about to move down to kiss her when he noticed Adam had walked into the room and was watching them with curious eyes.

Ponyboy looked up in surprise.

"Hey buddy."

"Can I have a juice box?" Adam asked.

"Sure."

Ponyboy got up off Cherry, helped her up and they all walked together to the kitchen. As they walked in, Pony's nose wrinkled in disgust.

"What's that smell?"

"Dinner," Cherry smiled.

His face fell and she laughed again.

"Don't worry, I'm ordering pizza."


	13. Break Down

XXXXXX

After Cherry's older cousin and her husband came home from a night out, she and Ponyboy were given money for babysitting and they and walked out of the house to Cherry's car.

On the ride back home, Ponyboy looked over at Cherry and noticed she looked bothered by something.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

She looked over at him.

"I'm just worried."

"About what?"

"That Adam might tell his parents what he saw when he walked in on us."

Pony shrugged.

"I don't think he will. And even if he does, so what?"

"If he does, then my cousin might tell my parents."

"Oh…that would be bad."

"Yeah," Cherry agreed.

"Well, if your parents find out, I'll just tell your them that I was teaching you how to wrestle."

"What?"

"Yeah, he didn't actually see us kiss, I didn't have the chance. He just saw me and you rolling around."

"Shush!" Cherry said loudly, not wanting to think about what the two did.

Ponyboy however looked at her, mouth agape in mock shock.

"Did you just 'shush' me?" He squinted his eyes in an angry gesture. "I can't believe you!"

"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Cherry said, raising her eyebrows.

"Hmm, I don't know." Pony responded, still thinking.

She pulled up in front of her house and parked the car.

"Okay, we're here."

"You're car in park?"

Cherry pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"Yeah, why?"

Ponyboy got a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You shushed me."

"I believe we established that already."

Ponyboy reached over and began tickling Cherry's sides, making her shriek with laughter. Cherry slapped his hands away and hurried out of the car. Pony got out and ran around the car to continue but she stopped him.

"No, Pony not out here," she said looking towards the windows, noticing the lights were on.

"Okay," Ponyboy laughed. "See you tomorrow."

Cherry nodded and opened the front door, both stepping inside the house.

The next day Bob and his friend Randy Anderson pulled up in the student parking lot of Will Rogers High School. Bob parked the car and then glared when he saw Cherry walking out of her car and up to the school.

Randy looked over to who Bob was staring at.

"Bob…don't do anything stupid."

Bob ran his fingers through his hair angrily.

"I still can't believe she dumped me. Just because I got a little drunk."

"I know man, I'm sorry. Just try to forget about her." Randy said, patting his shoulder sympathetically.

"You know what I think? I think she's seeing another guy, that's why she dumped me. Has Marcia said anything to you?"

Randy shook his head.

"I don't know anything about it."

"If she is, I'm gonna find out who. And I'm gonna kill him."

In PE class, everyone was gathered outside all wearing the same ugly-ass green gym shorts. The teacher had the class start to run around the track.

Ponyboy and Two-Bit ran together, Pony had told Sodapop and Johnny what was going on with him and Cherry. He was reluctant to tell Two-Bit because he had a big mouth but finally decided to, he was a good buddy after all.

"Wow, Cherry Valance. She's hot." Two-Bit said.

Pony rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I know."

"She's really hot."

"Enough Two-Bit."

Two-Bit grinned and slapped Ponyboy on the back.

"Good for you, buddy. Not bad for your first girlfriend. Give me a hug," he said, opening his arms.

"What are you doing?" Pony said beginning to back away.

Two-Bit walked toward Ponyboy as he backed away from him. "Come on. Give your friend a hug."

Pony picked up the pace a little. "No."

"Please? All I want is a hug!"

He turned and ran from Two-Bit.

"No!"

Two-Bit chased after Ponyboy, his arms still opened. "Come on! Give me a hug, damn you!"

"No way, you asshole!"

"Matthews! Knock it off you moron!" The gym teacher Mr. Jones yelled. "And Curtis watch your language!"

Ponyboy and Two-Bit stopped and started jogging with the rest of the class again.

"I'm proud of you Ponyboy, not bad for your first girlfriend. I just have one question; who sits on the handlebars when you two go see a movie?"

Two-Bit laughed as Pony tried to swing at him.

Twenty minutes later the bell rang and students roamed the halls, preparing to go to their next classes.

Cherry was by her locker with her friends Laurie and Alice who were bothering her.

"I can't believe you broke up with Bob, what happened?" Alice asked.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore," Cherry said, her frustration evident in her voice.

"Well, I don't want to, either, but you keep avoiding the issue!" Alice exclaimed with a scowl.

Cherry sighed.

"Alice, there is no issue. There is nothing between me and Bob anymore, we're not in love. I'm sick of him always getting drunk and stumbling around in the streets getting into trouble."

"I think you just described every greaser in town," Laurie laughed.

"Hey Cherry, can I talk to you for a second?"

Cherry's eyes widened as she heard Ponyboy's voice. She closed her locker and spun around, not even acknowledging Pony as she and Alice and Laurie began to walk away.

"Who was that?" Laurie asked.

"I don't know," Cherry responded.

"He seemed to know you."

"I don't who he is, just some greaser."

Ponyboy stood there, hurt as he continued to watch the three girls walk away as Cherry continued denying knowing him. Her voice them echoed in his head.

_"If I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or anything, you're a nice boy and everything..."_

XXXXXX

After school ended, Ponyboy sat on the steps of the staircase in the Valance house, waiting for Cherry to come home. He looked up when the door opened and she walked in.

"What was that about?" Pony asked while standing up.

"Pony I'm sorry, it's just that….my friends were around and we were in school and…you were dressed like a greaser."

"I am a greaser."

"I know."

"You really are something, a real soc." Pony said giving her a disgusted look.

"Please don't call me that."

"Why not? You are a soc aren't you? Someone who thinks they are better than everybody else, who only care about money and bullying others."

"Ponyboy, you don't understand. I don't even know what they would think if they found out!"

"Why do you care what they think? Is your reputation really that important? To be putting up an act everyday for so called 'friends' that could care less about you?"

Cherry trembled.

"How could you say that! They are my _friends_! They like me for who I am! It's just that…they don't want people of your 'kind' around."

Ponyboy bit his lip harder.

"If they are really your '_friends_' they wouldn't care if I was your friend and I was a greaser."

Cherry stayed silent, not admitting that she believed that. After a minute she spoke again.

"You have no idea how confusing this is for me. A few weeks ago you were just this nice boy I met at the movies and now…I don't even know what we are."

"At least you get to come home every day," Pony responded.

"Pony," Cherry said, reaching for his arm.

"No," Pony said and back away. "If you don't want to talk to me in public, then don't talk to me at all."

Cherry watched Ponyboy as he turned around and walked up the stairs, disappearing into his room. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath then spun around and headed for the door, deciding to go to Marcia's house, she could talk to her about anything.

After Ponyboy reached his room, he sat on his bed and picked the telephone up, calling Sodapop.

"So just a couple more days until the hearing Pony, and you'll be back home."

"You really think so Soda?"

"Oh yeah. We've been keeping the house as clean as it's ever been. Mrs. Rhodes has been making daily inspections. And Darry got a promotion, so he only has to work one job now."

Pony smiled.

"That's great."

"You okay Pony? You sound kinda down."

"I'm fine Soda, I'm just a little…"

"Homesick?" Sodapop finished for him.

"Yeah."

"Well, just hang on for a few more days. Darry will get you back, I'm sure of it."

"Okay Soda, bye."

After Ponyboy hung up the phone he swallowed a painful lump in his throat and layed down on the bed.

Cherry gripped the steering wheel of her Sting Ray tightly, replaying the argument over in her head. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She looked impatiently up at the red light, the light blurring slightly due to her unshed tears.

As the light turned green, Cherry pulled forward into the intersection, still biting back tears.

When the sound of squealing brakes and screaming tires met her ears, Cherry's head turned to greet the sound, her eyes widening in horror as she saw another car barreling through the intersection toward her, and the car smashed into the passenger side of her Sting Ray.


	14. Pride and Prejudice

XXXXXX

Ponyboy was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling and was suddenly jarred out his thoughts when the phone rang. He jumped up thinking Sodapop was calling back and nearly ripped the phone off the hook.

"Hello?"

"Hello," the voice replied. It was a deeper male voice, not Soda. "May I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Valance please?"

Pony sighed, suddenly uninterested in the caller.

"No, they're not here. Can I take a message?"

"Actually, it would be best if I could speak to a member of the family right away. It's rather...important. Would you by any chance be a relative of Sherry Valance?"

His eyes widened and his stomach seemed to drop. This didn't sound good. Ponyboy quickly found his voice again.

"Yes, um...I'm her foster brother actually. What's wrong?"

"Well Mr..."

"Curtis," he responded, "Ponyboy Curtis."

"Well Mr. Curtis, your foster sister has been in a car accident." Pony fell off his bed.

"You need to try and get in contact with your parents and get down here to the hospital as soon as possible. Ask at the front desk for her, she's in the emergency room right now but she might have been moved by the time anybody gets here."

Ponyboy dropped the phone. He couldn't stand to listen to anymore, his mind over flooded with too many thoughts, all at once. Cherry was in the hospital. His hands actually started shaking as he got to his feet and made his way down the staircase and went into the kitchen.

He started looking on the refrigerator or anywhere else for a phone number. He had no idea how to get in touch with the Valance's. He then heard the front door open and close and he quickly raced out of the kitchen and nearly ran into Mrs. Valance.

"Whoa! Ponyboy, slowly down!" Katharine laughed. She then noticed the look on his face.

"Ponyboy? What's wrong?"

"Mrs. Valance...I don't know how to tell you this, but…"

"What is it?"

"I…I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from someone at the hospital…Cherry is there."

"What happened? Is she hurt?"

"I don't know, they didn't tell me anything."

"Oh, god."

Katharine's mind raced, trying to think of a way to not make herself panic.

"Alright, we're going there right now. First we have to pick up Daniel."

Ponyboy ran out of the house with Katharine and got into the backseat of her car. She pulled out of the driveway and sped down the street. Less than five minutes later they arrived at Daniel's place of business and picked him up, explaining the situation along the way to the hospital.

Ponyboy looked helplessly out of the window, expecting the worst of the situation. Luckily they didn't hit any red lights as Katharine continued driving. They arrived only five minutes later but it felt like ages.

As he got out of the car Pony felt his heart pounding faster in his chest and he approached the huge building with the Valance's. They made their way inside to the front desk where an older woman was sitting at.

"We're here to see Sherry Valance," Katharine said.

The woman checked her clipboard.

"Room 326."

"Thank you."

The three of them headed for the elevators and took it to the third floor. Pony cursed under his breath at how slowly the elevator was going just to go up two floors. It felt like 20 minutes before the doors finally opened and they stepped out.

They pasted a desk a nurse was sitting at and walked down the hall. At one room Ponyboy recognized Marcia, Cherry's best friend standing there, along with an older male and female he assumed were her parents.

"Marcia! Do you know what happened?" Katharine said as she hurried over to her.

"Sherry was in a car accident," Marcia began, "It was a hit and run. They don't know what happened to the person who hit her. Witnesses said that it was the other person's fault, they had gone through a red light and slammed into the passenger's side of the car. Somebody got the license plate number, but they haven't been able to track down the vehicle yet."

Ponyboy felt like the ground was spinning underneath him.

"So how is she doing? How bad is it?"

"They haven't told us anything yet. They won't let us go in to see her, but they said a doctor will be out here soon to let us know what kind of injuries she has."

Just then, a doctor walked out of the room.

"The Valance family?" He inquired.

"Is she okay?" Daniel asked.

The doctor nodded.

"She is fine, none of Sherry's injuries are as bad as you're probably thinking." They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sherry doesn't have any broken bones. As far as physical damage goes her left wrist is sprained and she has a couple of bruises. She's more shook up about it than anything. You can see her now."

They all walked into the room to see Cherry sitting up in her bed. She smiled when she saw them. Daniel and Katharine quickly ran over and hugged her, gently but firmly.

"Thank god you're okay," Daniel said.

"My poor car," Cherry said trying to make some light of the situation.

"Forget about that, as long as you're not hurt."

Marcia and her family then walked over to her. Ponyboy stared at his feet, feeling awkward about being there. After a minute he heard her voice.

"Ponyboy,"

He looked up to see Cherry staring at him. She smiled at him and suddenly he forgot about everyone else in the room and walked over, hugging her tightly.

Mr. and Mrs. Valance smiled at the scene.

"They're responding like real brother and sister. Isn't that wonderful?" Katharine said to her husband in a cheerful tone. Ponyboy ignored her as Cherry was the only thing on his mind right now.

XXXXXX

The next day Cherry was downstairs finished eating preparing for another day of school.

"Sherry you don't have to go to school today." Her dad said.

"No, I want to."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, really."

"Okay, I'll drive you. Come on Ponyboy, you too."

Pony grinned at Cherry as they walked outside and got into the back of Mr. Valance's car.

After they were dropped off in front of the building they walked through the doors together. Ponyboy was about to go a different way but Cherry grabbed his hand, entwining it with hers.

Pony looked at her shocked.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she replied.

They continued walking down the hall, hand in hand. People stared at them curiously, wondering what was up. A couple of them started whispering to each other. Cherry then stopped in front of her locker.

"Thank you for walking me Ponyboy." She then leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. It wasn't long before a group of girls showed up in front of Cherry.

"Cherry…what are you doing with that…hood?" one of them said disgusted. The rest of the group, with the exception of Marcia, nodded in agreement.

"Listen, Alice. He is not a hood. His name is Ponyboy and he's my boyfriend" Cherry said proudly.

Pony raised an eyebrow.

"Out of all the boys in the school, you had to pick _him_?"

Cherry glared at her.

"Ponyboy is better than _any_ other boy in this school," she replied. Ponyboy's ears than started to turn red.

Alice opened her mouth to speak again but Cherry cut her off.

"You can't change me, I am what I am." She started to walk away but Marcia followed her.

"Hey Cherry, wait up!"

She stopped and turned around.

"So, Marcia. Aren't you going to follow the others?"

Marcia shook his head. "No way. It's okay Cherry, you're been my best friend since junior high. I don't care who your boyfriend is, you love him, right?" she asked.

Cherry scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she looked back over to where Ponyboy was still standing.

"Yeah…I do."

They two of them talked for a few minutes before Marcia looked up at the clock and noticed the bell was going to ring in a minute.

"I'll see you later okay."

Cherry nodded and began to turn the corner when she ran into somebody.

"Oh, sorry," she said and was about to go around when she looked up and saw it was Bob she ran into.

"So let me get this straight…you dumped me for a greaser? What the hell is going on in your head?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you," Cherry said. She tried to go around him, but he grabbed her wrist, her sprained wrist.

"Bob, let go!" She screamed, trying to get away from him.

"Hey!"

Ponyboy came rushing over to them and shoved Bob hard away from Cherry. He turned around and gently took her injured wrist.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Bob glared at Pony for a second before realizing something.

"You. You were the greaser that walked her home from the movies weeks ago aren't you?"

"Yeah I am. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Oh, I've been looking for you," Bob said cracking his knuckles.

"Bob, don't," Cherry pleaded.

"Stay out of this Cherry," Ponyboy said.

People began to crowd around the scene, and some even ran away in fear. A couple of idiots began to chant out the words "Fight, fight, fight!" and it spread around the crowd like wild fire.

Pony started to hope that this fight wouldn't break out here since security guards would be here any second. Just then, the bell rang and people boo'd, their hopes of a fight instantly crushed.

Bob growled and pointed at Ponyboy.

"We'll handle this fight later today, greaser. In the parking lot after school, and you better be there!"


	15. Last Man Standing

XXXXXX

Throughout the day, Ponyboy couldn't concentrate in any of his classes. His mind was only on the fight with Bob after school.

Even during lunch he was quieter than usual around Two-Bit and Johnny, he didn't want them to get wind of what was going to happen. No doubt they would try to talk him out of it or even go tell Sodapop or Darry about it.

Pony sighed. The reason he was in this whole mess to begin with was because of fighting. After being caught outside that diner and then being taken to the boy's home…and finally to the Valance house.

Fighting was useless, it did no good. But he didn't have a choice this time. He couldn't let Bob treat Cherry or anyone else like that again. What Cherry ever saw in Bob he would never know.

As he sat in Mr. Syme's English class, the last class of the day, Ponyboy could almost feel the minutes counting down. It was then he started thinking about how good of a fighter he was.

He remembered the first rumble he had fought in and how reluctant Darry was about letting him fight in it, but he ended up surprising his brothers and himself of how well he had handled himself, but that was different. In rumbles he had others to fall back on, in case he got into trouble, somebody would have been there to help him.

This was a one on one fight, Ponyboy had never really been in one before. Both Sodapop and Darry had been in a couple and they had never lost. Pony hoped he was as tough as them. He was a Curtis after all.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the final bell of the day had rang and the kids were getting up out of their seats and heading for the door.

"I heard there's gonna be a fight," Pony heard somebody say.

"Yeah, let's get out their quick so we can get a good spot," another responded.

After taking a deep breath, Ponyboy got out of his seat and walked to his locker, putting away his books, then shut it, and began making his way to the door that led to the student's parking lot.

As he got closer to his destination he saw Cherry standing by the door, not doubt waiting for him to try to talk him out of this.

"Come on, Pony let's just go home."

He shook his head.

"I can't."

"Please, he isn't worth it."

"I have to do this," he told her.

"Even if it means you get hurt?" asked Cherry, angrily.

"Even then."

"You're being foolish!"

Pony looked at the floor for a second than looked back up at Cherry.

"You don't think I can beat him?"

"It's not about that, I don't want you to get hurt," she said, taking one of his hands.

"I'm going to alright…I promise."

After that Ponyboy leaned forward and kissed Cherry. Her hands reached up and buried themselves in his reddish brown hair, deepening the kiss. After seconds, they finally separated as they heard the sounds of car horns going off.

"Maybe it would be best if you just went home," Pony said.

"No…I'm going to stay."

Ponyboy slowly pushed the door open and walked outside.

"Good luck," Cherry told him, not knowing what else to say. He nodded and began making his way to the lot.

When he arrived, Ponyboy was surprised to what he saw. About eight cars in the student parking lot had formed a circle. A fairly large crowd had gathered around, no doubt waiting for the second participant to show up. He could see Bob standing in the center.

"Hey look, here comes the greaser that took Bob's girl," a soc said to his friend. Bob overheard him and turned his head to give him a murderous look.

Ponyboy walked into the circle and was now only a few feet from Bob. He glared at Pony and cracked his knuckles like he did earlier this morning as the crowd began honking their horns and yelling in excitement.

Bob then suddenly rushed at Ponyboy, immediately throwing a flurry of punches and Pony blocked them all. Bob reached out with his fist and had it slapped away; another try with his other fist had it blocked outright, but his other fist reaches back around and tries for a body blow.

Ponyboy blocked that, too, and reaches up to punch him in his chest. Bob scouts it out, however, and reaches out with one hand, grabbing his wrist and yanking him forward. Pony's momentum and Bob's strength combined made him fly into the ground, crashing hard into it.

Bob stood over him and in a last ditch effort, Ponyboy kicked out his foot and it hit him right in the chin. Surprised and dazed, Bob stumbled back and regained his footing while Pony got back to his feet and takes the initiative, running at him with his fists bared.

The first thing Bob did is let Ponyboy come at him, and then grabbed his hand and duck down, using Pony's weight and speed to throw him over onto his back. Bob kept a firm grip on Ponyboy's arm as he falls, then when he was down he twists his arm back and applies pressure to his elbow and wrist, and presses his knee into Ponyboy's shoulder, locking him in an arm lock.

Ponyboy struggled against him for a moment, trying to break free while biting down on his teeth through the pain. Getting nowhere in a hurry, he finally relaxes and thinks for a second...then reaches up with his free hand and rakes Bob across his eyes.

Bob yelled out in pain and staggers backward, holding his eyes and releasing his hold. Ponyboy rolled out from under him and got back to his feet, ready to throw anything he had at Bob but found himself begin charged by him again. Bob rushed at Ponyboy blindly, however, since his eyes still ached from his rake, but Pony got an idea.

Bob closed the gap between them in a second but Pony thinks faster and ducked low under his arms, then rams his shoulder into Bob's gut and grabs him around his waist, lifting him into the air and running forward a few steps before slamming Bob back down into the ground again with all his might, knocking the air clean out of him.

He coughed and lies on the ground under Ponyboy, _stunned_. The crowd went wild for that one.

Bob was so out of it that Ponyboy was able to straddle him and start pummeling away at his face and chest for a good few seconds before Bob snapped out of it and reverses, winding up on top of him, pummeling away at his face.

Ponyboy covered his face at first and tried to block him, to no avail, then reached up with his legs and wraps them around Bob's head. He stops his attack once Pony had him in this odd hold and tries to break free, but Pony pulled back and throws Bob off of him and back into the ground, giving Ponyboy time to get back on his feet.

They both got up at once and rush at each other without a moment's hesitation, but Bob's offense took something out of Ponyboy and he missed spotting the cue that Bob was going to strike at him first.

Pony got ready to raise his hand to block his punch but it was too late and the next thing he knew he got struck by a hard fist into the chest that knocks him flat on his back. Ponyboy layed on the ground blinking and coughing, very much dazed and confused, while Bob comes back and stands there, watching Ponyboy struggle to his feet.

Bob moved in a semi-circle while Pony got up and started moving forward. Bob lunged at him and tried an uppercut…though Pony tried to fight back with his own offense, it's all easily sidestepped and countered. Finally Bob pressed close and slammed his fist into Pony's face, bloodying his nose.

Pony fell to one knee and wiped away the blood and waited for Bob to make the next move.

He didn't have to wait long, because he goes right back on the offensive and throws another punch. Pony ducked and punched Bob in the gut, causing him to stumbled forward and start wheezing for air.

Ponyboy grabbed Bob around the waist quickly and lifted him into the air. He held him there for a second before twisting to his side, then spins and throws him back down on the ground.

Phased for only a second, Bob quickly counters by grabbing Ponyboy's head and using his feet to roll him on the ground beside him, then rolls back over on top of Pony again and started punching at him again.

Blood began to flow from his mouth regardless of Ponyboy's attempts at blocking, and for his next move he reached up and jabbed his thumb into Bob's eye.

Bob jumped off him, grasping at his eye and yelling random syllables. Pony grinned satisfactory and sat up, watching him shake his head off and then try to attack him again.

Even while seated, Ponyboy managed to hold him off with blocks, easily countering with a throat jab that sends Bob backing away again. Pony pops back up, oddly feeling good, standing ready again with his hands in a grappling position.

The crowd began pounding on the roofs of the cars and beeping their horns while others cheered and kept egging them on to continue fighting.

Bob was still grasping at his throat but Pony didn't give him a chance to recover and ran over to him, landing a double fisted punch into Bob's head. That knocked him over and opened a fresh cut on his forehead.

Bob was breathing heavy in the ground, angry and frustrated before he felt himself being lifted up off the ground. He growled and planted a knee under him, then spun around and gave Ponyboy a hard backhand to the face, bloodying his lip again.

Ponyboy staggered back a step, allowing Bob to get onto his feet and charge at him, but Pony recovered quicker than he expected.

He grabbed onto Bob's shoulders and threw himself backwards, sending him flying neatly over his head. Bob landed hard on the ground and grasped at his back as Ponyboy got up and stood over him. Bob slowly got back to his feet but his arms had given out on him as Pony came forward.

He hit Bob with two punches to the face and Bob's eyes glaze over, then Pony kicked him in the gut. Finally, he spun around one last time, landing a hard backhand to Bob, sending him crashing to the ground one last time.

The crowd was cheering widely for Pony, even some socs, but none of that mattered anymore. The fighting, the bloodshed...it's all hollow. He looked down at Bob's limp body and felt empty, despite his victory.

Ponyboy slowly walked out of the circle of cars and was immediately met with a tight hug from Cherry.

"Are you okay?" She asked, tears in her eyes.

Pony nodded.

"Let's go."

They left the parking lot in a hurry, Pony not even acknowledging any of the other's cheers and praise.


	16. The Dance Club

XXXXXX

As soon as they arrived home Cherry led Ponyboy up to the bathroom and was currently cleaning the dried blood off away from his nose. Fortunately his nose had stopped bleeding before they got home. She was now looking at the cut on his mouth.

"This isn't bad is it?" Pony asked.

Cherry shrugged.

"It's noticeable. I wonder if my parents will ask about it."

"I'll just tell them I got it messing around with a friend at school."

"You think they'll believe you?"

"I don't know. I hope so."

After Cherry finished she wrapped her arms around Ponyboy's neck.

"My hero," she smiled.

Pony rolled his eyes

"Tonight, I'll cook. It's the least I can do for you."

The phone started to ring.

"I'll be right back."

Cherry walked out of the bathroom to answer the phone, Pony turned around and looked at himself in the mirror, gently touched the scratch near his mouth. After a minute Cherry came back into the bathroom, smiling brightly.

"Good news. My parents are getting together with friends of theirs for dinner, they'll be home late. That means we can be alone."

"Okay."

Ponyboy followed Cherry downstairs and into the kitchen, were she turned the stove on and started pulling out pots and pans.

"Cherry, when did you learn how to cook?" Pony asked.

Cherry turned around and looked him straight in the eye and said, "I never did. Don't sue me if you get food poisoning."

Ponyboy gave her a weird, yet nervous look. Suddenly he noticed the smirk that drew up on her face.

Amused by his reaction, Cherry finally said, "My grandfather was a wonderful chef, I learned from him when I was thirteen."

Ponyboy smiled as he watched her start to cook from behind. While he watched her something in his mind caused him to wrap his arms around her. His head rested on her back full of warmth as she was washing the vegetables.

Cherry smiled at him. She felt really content by what he did. She then turned off the faucet and turned around to face him.

"Ponyboy."

"Hmm?"

"You know, you really are important to me. I'm really happy that I'm with you. You really are different from the others."

Touched by her words, Ponyboy didn't know what to say. He looked into Cherry's eyes and saw warmth and sincerity. He then noticed her eye lids falling shut as his did like wise as his lips approached and they kissed.

Breaking away, both of their faces flushed red as Cherry said, "I should probably start to cook now," ending off with a very cheerful laugh.

Ponyboy laughed as he stood in the sidelines watching her. He then walked into the living room and turned the television on, watching until Cherry called out that it was ready.

Ponyboy walked in the dining room and Cherry placed a dish before his eyes.

"Dinner is served."

"Wow, everything looks so professionally cooked," he said sarcastically.

Cherry laughed at his comment and sat down across from him.

As he placed the food into his mouth Cherry stated, "Well it might look professional, but don't blame me if it tastes horrible."

Hearing her comment, Ponyboy had already swallowed. His faced turned odd, it was if he was choking.

Noticing his condition Cherry got out of her seat and ran over to him.

"Pony are you okay? It doesn't taste that bad does it?"

Then Ponyboy's eyes opened widely as he said, "Nope everything tastes amazing." He stuck his tongue out at her as he laughed at how she had reacted.

They ate in silence and listened to music that Cherry put on the record player. When Ponyboy finished he got up and walked towards Cherry and stood behind her chair. As she was about to put the food into her mouth she noticed her chair being pulled away from the table. When it stopped Ponyboy was standing next to her, she dropped her fork as Pony gently took her wrist and pulled her to her feet.

"Aw," she whined. "I was going to finish that," she said, referring to the food that was on the fork which was now on top of the plate at the dining table.

"Where are you taking me?" Cherry questioned as she walked with him up the stairs.

"You'll see," Ponyboy responded with a smirk as he walked up the stairs, finally reaching Cherry's room and put a hand on her shoulder, making her sit down on the bed.

Cherry looked at him oddly as she laid on the bed.

"Just what do you have in mind Pony?"

Ponyboy grinned.

"Not that. It's just…this is my last weekend here before my hearing and I thought…I just want a night to be with you and not have to worry about anything else."

"Okay," Cherry said and stood up, thinking that Ponyboy probably wanted to go to the Nightly Double. "We'll have to walk there since I won't have my car back for another week."

"That's okay, it's not far."

After a few minutes they met up by the front door, both of them dressed nicely. They walked outside and Ponyboy took Cherry's hand and started walking in the opposite direction to where the Nightly Double was. Cherry dug in her heels, making them stop. Ponyboy spun around to look at her.

"What?"

"Where are we going? I thought you wanted to go the movies."

"No, we're going somewhere else tonight."

Cherry looked at him mildly suspicious. "Where?"

"The place…it's a bit crowded, but we'll have fun, trust me. Sodapop told me about the place, he use to take Sandy there when they first started dating."

"Okay, just tell me where we're going."

Ponyboy took her hand and they started walking again. He then looked over his shoulder and grinned at her.

"A dance club."

The club was a few blocks away from the house. It was called "The Edge" and looked very bright and clean. They got a table in the back, and sat down to watch the people dance. The overhead lighting kept switching from green to blue to red. Cherry thought it was actually kind of cool.

"What do you think?" Ponyboy asked her suddenly.

Cherry smiled over at him.

"It's nice," she said. Then she looked at him wryly, waiting for him to ask her to dance.

When a slow song came on Ponyboy looked over to Cherry and held out his hand. Cherry took it and they got out from the table and approached the dance floor.

They held each other close, Ponyboy's arms wrapped around her waist and Cherry's arms wrapped around his neck. They swayed in slow circles, thumbs stroking backs and waists.

No words were spoken; none were needed, for both felt the other's heartbeat against their own and understood its nonverbal message. In those nearly suspended moments in time, there was no lead and no follow... just the two of them, dancing to the rhythm of their own making.

After a few more dances they decided it was time to head home. Cherry stood outside of the dance club, waiting for Pony as he had to use the bathroom. She pulled her ski jacket tighter around herself when she felt somebody breathing in her ear.

"Well…isn't it the traitor," said a deep male voice. Cherry spun around to see David, a friend of Bob's standing behind her with a sick grin on his face.

"Go away...I don't have time to deal with you right now," Cherry said.

"Aww...whats the matter?" David spoke sarcastically. "Did the greaser get tired of you already? Did he toss you out like yesterday's trash? Or like yesterday's cherry...perhaps?"

His words filled Cherry with rage as David began laughing. Her hand formed as fist and she sent it flying at David's face.

Catching him off-guard he is sent sprawling back. He clenched at his face and brought a hand of blood off his face. His nose is pouring out red. David looked up at her in a rage.

"You bitch!"

Cherry tried desperately to leave but David grabbed her and tripped her to the ground. David sat down on her, pinning Cherry's arms down and cupped her mouth so she couldn't scream.

David raised his hand, and Cherry closed her eyes, bracing herself for a powerful blow…but the snap of a switchblade is heard.

She looked up and saw Ponyboy standing there, the knife to David's throat. David's hand froze in the air and Pony grabbed the back of his jacket, angrily pulling him off Cherry.

"Well. If it isn't our hero!" David spoke spitefully still holding his coat sleeve to his blood dripping nose.

"Give it up you filthy soc, looks to me you already sunk as low as to getting your ass kicked by a girl." Ponyboy then looked over at Cherry and grinned.

David stared threatening at Ponyboy, but the knife calms him down some.

"You are the greaser that the Valance's took in aren't you?" David then smirked at Cherry. "I wonder if they know about you two going to dance clubs together."

"Shut up, David!" Cherry screamed.

"Or what? You gonna kill me, greaser?" He said, looking at Ponyboy. "Kill me. Go ahead...I dare you. My friends will murder you in the night."

Ponyboy only continues staring at David behind his knife. Finally he lowered the knife. "Get out of here. I'm warning you, touch her again and I promise I won't let you go so easy!"

David shot one final glance to Ponyboy and Cherry then started off in the opposite direction.


	17. Tragedy and Triumph

XXXXXX

Ponyboy and Cherry walked across the street from the dance club, heading back home. Pony then suddenly stopped Cherry and started to look her over.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No," Cherry smiled, than wrapped her arms around his waist. "You came out just in time. I guess that's two I owe you."

"Don't worry about it. That must have been a hell of a punch you gave him," Pony responded, remembering David's bloody nose as he smiled at her.

"You don't really think he will try to tell my parents he saw us together do you?"

"I don't think so," Ponyboy sighed, noticing the worry on her face of the possibility of David telling her mother and father.

He then took a deep breath as he continued looking at her. He hated to bring this up, but he had to.

"You know, eventually we're gonna have to tell them."

"I know…it's just that, it's going to be…"

"Hard, I know."

"I just don't know how they're going to react. They took in as a favor to Mrs. Rhodes. I'm sure they didn't count on his happening."

"Come on, let's go." Pony said taking her hand. They turned around and began walking back to the Valance house when suddenly...

_BANG!_

Suddenly a ringing in Cherry's ears results from the clap of a gunshot. Ponyboy then fell to the ground yelling in pain. She looked down at her legs and saw that Pony's blood had stained her jeans in bright red and she screamed in terror. Cherry quickly fell to the ground next to him.

She then turned her head to see Bob Sheldon holding a pistol. He then started walking towards Cherry and Ponyboy.

Cherry dove to Ponyboy's side and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him to his feet. He had a wound just above his right shoulder that was pouring out blood. She pulled his other arm over his shoulder and they tried to run just as Bob fired another shot that missed.

Other people on the street screamed and ran to safety, some yelling to call the police. Ponyboy and Cherry hid behind a parked car on the street as Bob fired yet another shot that blasted out the car's window. Cherry screamed and held her boyfriend closer to her.

"Bob! Have you lost your mind!" She screamed.

Her ex-boyfriend didn't respond as another shot was fired.

"Cherry…get out of here," Pony managed to say through pain.

"No…I'm not leaving you."

They suddenly heard an evil laugh and looked around as Bob came around to the other side of the car, still holding the gun. Cherry stared up at him in wide eyed fear, this was defiantly not the boy she knew and even loved a few weeks ago.

"Fuck you!" Pony managed to snap through compressed breathing as Bob came closer towards them.

"Oh, no...I think it is you who is fucked!" He leaned down and twists his head toward Cherry moving the gun inches closer toward Pony's head. Bob then looked over at Cherry.

"So, any last words for your lover?"

Cherry couldn't make any words for through her sobbing mouth. Finally, she managed to say;

"Stop it! Stop it now!"

Bob grinned evilly.

"Not exactly words worthy of such an ending...but..."

He cocked the gun and his finger grips the trigger.

"NO!" Cherry yelled.

"Yes. I'm sorry it had to be like this, but you just couldn't leave it alone. You just couldn't stay with your own kind like a good little boy. But now...it's all over."

Before Bob could pull the trigger, Cherry jumped up and threw herself at Bob and started hitting him, trying to make him drop the gun. Bob was able to push Cherry away from him and shove her to the ground.

He turned his attention back to Ponyboy put he was already up on his feet, despite being wounded and raises enough strength to smack the gun from Bob's hand and punching him in the face with a strong fist.

Bob flies back and Ponyboy fell the ground with him. Bob struggled to get up but the roar of sirens and flashing lights stop him. Voices right out.

"Freeze! Stand up real slow and have your hands held high!"

Bob was caught. Standing up slowly, Bob looked over to both Ponyboy and Cherry.

"This isn't over…I promise you that."

The police men tackle Bob to the ground and handcuffed him.

"Get an ambulance down here, we have a young man shot in the back," one the officers said into his radio as another policeman was checking out Ponyboy who had passed out by this time.

A few minutes later an ambulance arrived. Cherry tried to push her way through people who had gathered around to see Ponyboy being carried away in a stretcher. A police officer then appeared behind her.

"Come on, we'll drive you over."

Cherry nodded and wiped away her tears.

"Thanks."

After arriving at the hospital, Cherry sat down on a chair, waiting for any information about Ponyboy. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she hoped and prayed her boyfriend would be okay.

"Sherry!" She heard someone yell out.

Cherry looked over to see her parents running down the hall, towards her. She got up as her parents reached her and pulled her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked.

"I'm fine, it's Ponyboy that was hurt!" Cherry yelled, more tears spilling out from her eyes.

"Shhh, I'm sure he'll be alright," Katharine said, trying to calm her daughter down. She really seemed to be on the verge of hysterics. "You and Ponyboy really must have gotten close over the past few weeks. You're like brother and sister."

"Mom, Ponyboy and I aren't like brother and sister," she snapped. Her parents looked taken aback, but Cherry finally had to get this out. There was no point into keeping it a secret anymore.

"The two of us did know each other." She began. "We met at the movies a few weeks before you took him in."

Her parents looked at her in confusion and she closed her eyes before starting to tell them what had happened between the two over the weeks.

After Cherry got done telling her parents the story, about how she and Ponyboy met at the movies, how they had hung out together the weekend they went out of town, and finally fell in love. Her mom seemed a little surprised but fine with it, but her dad was livid.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us you knew him! We would have never taken that…boy in if we knew!" Her dad yelled.

"Daniel, calm down. She can't help who she falls in love with," Katharine tried to reason with her husband.

"I told you this might happen, didn't I?"

"Dad, stop it!" Cherry snapped and her father looked shocked after she said that. "You said yourself you thought he was a nice boy, so why has that changed now?"

Daniel really didn't have a response as Katharine gently took his arm, trying to get him to calm down.

A doctor then suddenly walked out of the room.

"Are you the legal guardians of Ponyboy Curtis?" He asked.

Daniel and Katharine looked at each other and nodded. Technically they were.

"Is Ponyboy okay?" Cherry asked.

Before the doctor could answer the sound of two boys running down the hall and yelling stopped him.


	18. A New Beginning

XXXXXX

Sodapop and Darry stopped running when they reached the room they were told Ponyboy was in and walked up to the doctor, trying to get their breaths back.

"Is this Ponyboy Curtis's room?" Darry asked.

"Yes, I was just about to tell his guardians-" The doctor began but Sodapop interrupted him.

"_We're_ his brothers!" Soda yelled.

The doctor looked at the Valance family and Daniel sighed.

"It's a long story."

"Forget it! Tell us how Ponyboy is, or I'm gonna beat your head in!" Soda looked like he was on the verge of hysterics too.

"Soda, relax." Darry ordered, not wanting his other brother to do something that got him in trouble as well.

"Ponyboy was shot in his upper right shoulder. We were able to get the bullet out. He's lost a lot of blood, but he will be fine."

The Curtis brothers and the Valance family breathed a sigh of relief.

"He is asleep right now, but you can go in to see him."

When the doctor walked away, Soda and Darry quietly entered the room but Cherry turned away and began walking down the hall.

"Sherry, where are you going? Don't you want to see Ponyboy?" Her mother called after her. Cherry stopped and rubbed her forehead.

"I just want to go home, I can't deal with this right now."

"Alright, we'll go," Mrs. Valance said gently.

The three of them left the hospital and got into the car. They were silent on the way back home, Mr. Valance didn't say anything more about Ponyboy, and Cherry was glad. This whole night was like a bad dream and she couldn't take much more. Cherry took an aspirin for her headache and got into bed.

The next morning, Cherry sat at the table in the kitchen reading through the newspaper. It talked all about the shooting last night and how Bob was arrested for shooting Ponyboy. Interesting enough, it also said that David had been arrested too for a hit and run.

Cherry hoped they both got put away for a long time.

She saw the time and knew she was going to be late for school, but she didn't care. She decided she wasn't going to go today, she just couldn't concentrate on it today. Cherry got up and walked out of the house, deciding to go see Ponyboy at the hospital when she suddenly heard somebody call her name.

"Hey Cherry!"

She stopped walking as a sting ray pulled over and saw her best friend Marcia, and Alice get out and come over towards her.

"Hey," Alice began. "We read about what happened to Ponyboy last night. Is he okay?"

Cherry glared at Alice.

"What do you care? I thought Ponyboy was just a hood?"

Alice looked guilty as she stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she began. "I guess I was a little shocked because Bob seemed so perfect."

"Yeah, turns out he was a maniac. I can't believe he shot Ponyboy," Marcia said.

"The doctor said he's going to be fine."

"That's good," Marcia responded. "So, I guess your car is still banged up. Do you want a ride to school?"

Cherry shook her head.

"I not going today. I'm going to see Ponyboy."

"Alright, see you later."

Marcia and Alice walked back to the car and took off as Cherry continued her way to the hospital. When she got their, she walked into Ponyboy's room and saw that he was still asleep. Cherry walked over and lightly ran her hand across Pony's arm before sitting down on the chair right next to her bed.

After about twenty minutes of being there, Cherry was reading a magazine when a groan coming from next to her caused Cherry to jump.

"Ponyboy?"

Ponyboy slowly opened his eyes to see who called his name. He looked up to see Cherry standing over him.

"Pony!" She yelled and threw herself at him, hugging him lightly. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

He made a noise and Cherry pulled away from him.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

Ponyboy shook his head and sat up slightly, looking at her and asked, "What exactly happened?"

"Bob...he shot you last night. The cops came and arrested him, than they took you to the hospital. You've been asleep ever since."

Ponyboy was quiet after that, the previous night's events starting to come back to him. Cherry suddenly spoke up again.

"I told my parents about us."

Ponyboy looked at Cherry in surprise.

"How'd they take it?"

"Well…my mom doesn't seem to mind, but my dad isn't happy with it," Cherry admitted. "But even if he does, he's just gonna have to deal with it. Because I love you."

"I love you too."

They just stared into each other's eyes after that, neither one saying a word until they heard a knock on the door. Ponyboy looked over and smiled brightly when he saw it was Sodapop.

"Pony, how you doin' kid?" Soda asked nearly crying. He walked over and hugged his brother tightly.

"I'm fine. How are you Soda?" Ponyboy asked in the same tone.

"I'm okay, I was just on my way to work and I wanted to check up on you."

"Thanks, but I'm okay Soda."

Soda nodded.

"The hearing is tomorrow. Are you ready for it?"

"Yeah...I hope that Darry gets back custody. I want us to be a family again."

"So do I Ponyboy...so do I." Soda replied.

Then, for the first time, Soda realized that Cherry was in the room too.

"Oh, hello." He greeted. "I'm Sodapop Curtis," he said as he stuck his hand out.

"I'm Cherry Valance," she responded while shaking his hand and smiling. The two of them really did look alike. It was uncanny.

"So, are you his girlfriend?" He grinned while looking at his brother, who started to blush.

"Yes, I am."

"Good job, Pony," he said, lightly hitting his brother's shoulder. Ponyboy tried to hit him but Soda was to fast and moved out of the way and out the room.

XXXXXX

The next day, late in the afternoon, Ponyboy left the hospital and atteneded the custody hearing. The gang had all testified that Darry was a good guardian for Ponyboy.

Other witnesses who had seen the fight at the Dingo testified that the socs were the ones who started it.

After about an hour the judge said the words the Curtis brothers had been dying to hear for the past few weeks.

"Custody granted," the judge said while smiling.

"Did ya hear that!" Darry yelled hugging Soda sitting next to him, and then hugged Ponyboy on his other side.

This meant a whole new beginning. They were going to be back together again.

"Congratulations on getting back custody Darry," Mrs. Rhodes said as she came over. "Now you stay out of trouble," she said while looking at Ponyboy. "You got a lucky break here, I don't know if it will happen again."

After she said that, Mrs. Rhodes walked out of the court room and Darry turned to his brothers.

"Now why don't we go home?" Darry asked.

"All of us." Ponyboy finished.

"Yeah, let's throw a party," Soda laughed as he followed Darry out of the court room, but Ponyboy stayed behind with Cherry who had also attended.

They smiled at each other, saying nothing. But they didn't have to, they knew what each other was thinking. They were together, it was going to be hard, but maybe their relationship could set an example for everyone else. Maybe the whole issue between greasers and socs could be solved without the use of fists.

Ponyboy and Cherry exited the court room hand in hand, just as the sun was starting to set.

The End.


End file.
